The Hidden Beryl
by authorZR
Summary: AU Merlin is reincarnated. The knights of the round table are a secret society, called the Battalion, trying to find the new incarnation of Merlin before the descendants of Morgana can kill them. They need the Merlin to resurrect Arthur and unite the land of Albion. All Original characters. Trigger warning. LGBTQA. This is a novel idea, I'm looking for feedback and suggestions!
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE: HER

A train ticket? There's a train ticket. It's on the ground. It's muddy, it's been stepped on and crumpled, and the rain has nearly soaked it through. Out of all of the passers by, no one was looking at it. No one even noticed that it was there. Except for her. She saw it, and she was looking at it. But why? Something about this damp, tattered, and old piece of paper had caught her attention, but she couldn't figure out what that was. The ink was bleeding on the ticket, making the words slide around the paper like ice skaters, but that's not why it interested her. No that couldn't be why, could it? She wondered who dropped it. What if they needed it? How could they get on the train without it?

Maybe I should take it to the train station? she thought, Then I could look for someone who is frantically searching their pockets for their ticket.

The ticket that they dropped. The ticket that she found. When she picked it up, she saw that it hadn't been punched, never been used. The date was for today, so someone must have bought it recently. Where was the station? It must be close by.

"I don't think I've ever been to the train station." She mumbled to no one.

That's odd, she thought, why would I have never been to the train station?

She knew what a train ticket looked like, she knew that it must be punched to get aboard the train, she must have been at the train station at some point in time. How else would she have known these things?

"I guess I could just google it." she said to herself.

For the first time in two months, she has finally found herself to be alone. Since she got to college she has been surround by people. She just wants to be alone, but she can't, not at college. She took out her phone and opened the Google app. She googled 'train station near me.' The app buffered. And buffered. And buffered.

An error has occurred. Check network connection or try again later.

"You are so much help, Google." She was still alone, but she liked talking even if no one was listening. She felt heard when she talked. Even when no was there to listen.

She took another glance at the ticket. 'October 10, 2017 Naperville Metra Station.'

"Well, I'm in Naperville, so it's bound to be around here somewhere." She said, still talking to know one. That time the only passerby she had seen that morning gave her an odd look. She brushed it off.

Classes were in session, so there weren't a lot of students walking around campus. Then again, it was still 8:30 in the morning. Her roommate had 8 am classes every day, so she got up with her, even though she had nothing to do. So, she walked around campus, it was the only time she had, to be alone. That morning she had gotten halfway through campus, when she found the odd train ticket. She still hadn't figured out why it bothered her so much.

Only the early birds are out right now, and none of them seem to care about this ticket, she thought.

"So why do I?" She said aloud.

She pocketed the train ticket in her right jacket pocket, and returned her phone to her back pocket of her purple jeans. She set off to find the station.

I don't have too much time, she thought, there is only an hour and a half before my next class, so I can't walk too far.

Heck, Naperville was so small, she could walk its length in under twenty minutes from her dorm room in Ward Hall, and she was already halfway across campus.

It wasn't raining hard anymore, just a little misting of water, but it was nice to walk through. The past few weeks had been over 90 degrees, but now it was finally starting to feel like fall. She loved the fall; in fall she could finally wear her sweaters. Today, it was finally cool enough to break out her cream colored, cowl neck sweater. She loved that sweater, it wasn't too tight but it also wasn't too loose, it was just baggy enough to be the most comfortable thing she owned.

It had been raining all night, so there were puddles everywhere. She did her best not to step in any (which of course meant she jumped into every single one that she came across). Pretty soon, she was at the edge of campus, and still had no idea where she was going.

"I guess I'll just keep going straight." It made as much sense as anything else. "God, my feet are cold. Maybe jumping in puddles wasn't the best idea." She did have a point. "I'll change my socks when I get back to my dorm." A wise plan.

Laughing to herself, she stumbled upon some construction that made her cross to the left side of the road. There were cranes and a bulldozer and forklifts; and she was pretty sure she saw a wrecking ball. And now that Miley Cyrus song was stuck in her head.

Quietly she sang to herself. "I came in like a wrecking ball, I never hit so hard in love, all I wanted was to break your walls, all you ever did was wre-e-eck me, yeah you, you wre-e-eck me."

Caught up in the only slightly relevant Miley song that she knew, she almost walked straight onto the train tracks. That would have really sucked considering two seconds later a train zoomed past, the gust of wind nearly knocked her off her feet.

"Well I guess this is the train station." she said mostly to herself, but now there were actual people around. She had completely walked past the actual building part of the station, but it was easy to see why. It was so tiny, it looked like one of those little buildings in the middle of a state park that was just for bathrooms.

Entering the shack-like station, she found a sign that pointed her towards the ticket counter. She pulled the still slightly damp-but not as much as before- ticket out of her pocket. she walked to the nearest window with no one in line, and showed the worker the found ticket.

"Hey, I thought I should ask—" She wasn't exactly sure where she was going with that, but the worker cut her off before she could figure it out.

"Yes, I will print you a new ticket to replace your ruined one. No, I will not let you keep that one. No, it won't cost an additional charge. Put the ticket under the glass." The worker behind the glass said in a very tired monotone, obviously not a morning person, but that she understood.

"Oookay." She said slowly, as she slid the ticket under the glass pane separating her from the worker.

"This ticket is for the Metra to Chicago and for Amtrak, don't lose it or wreck it again, I won't give you another." The worker said as they slid the new ticket towards her.

"Thanks, but I really just wanted to—" figure out who dropped that ticket, is what she was trying to say.

"When the loud speaker says there is an inbound train to Chicago get on that one, then stay on until it says you have arrived at Chicago. You will be at grand station. Get off the train and get out of the track area. Then go left and you will be at the Amtrak gate. The number on your ticket will tell you where to go and if you can't find it, go to their help desk." They went on. "Now get out of my line you are holding up other customers!"

She did as she was told, and got out of her line. Well at least I got whoever dropped their ticket a new one, she thought.

Maybe they dropped it because it was ruined , and they got a new one, so they are just a litterer. But the worker behind the counter gave HER a new ticket. The one she found wasn't even a ticket for that train, right? They said that, didn't they?

Oh, dear, now I don't know what to do. She thought.

"An inbound train, toward Chicago, is approaching." The loudspeaker outside boomed.

"Whoever dropped this is probably out there right now." She whispered to herself, "I'll go out there, and if I see someone looking for their ticket, great, I'll give them this one. If not, I'll go back to campus."

Yeah that was a good idea. And that was what she was going to do.

"Stay behind the yellow safety line. An inbound train, toward…." The loudspeaker continued to prattle on. She wished she would have heard that before she almost got hit by that train a few minutes ago.

Scanning the crowd, she searched for anyone who was looking concerned, or searching for a potentially lost ticket, but no one was. At least, no one that she saw was, everyone was too focused on the incoming train.

Her focus shifted to the train as well. It was much closer than she thought it was going to be.

Either I find this person now, or I'm just going to go home, she thought.

I hope I do find them though... I'd feel bad if the missed their train.

The train pulled up to the station, and she still hadn't see anyone that might be missing their ticket.

"What if they don't know that they lost it?" she wondered out loud.

Then they'd get on the train without their ticket. She thought. What happens if you board a train without a ticket?

"I don't know," She answered herself. "But I know that I would not want to find out while it was happening to me."

Sounds like you know what you've got to do, she told herself.

"This is a bad idea."

But it's the only one we have.

"Let the record show I didn't want to do this," she said. She knew that this was not going to be one of her smart moments.

The train pulled into the station and stopped. The crowd rushed to board the train, and she boarded the train with them.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO: THEM

It wasn't one of their best plans, if you could even call it a plan. They knew they needed to find her, but there was a one in a million chance that this would even work. They really weren't sure if it was worth the risk.

"What if it doesn't work?" her voice tremble with anxiety.

"If it doesn't work, then…...then it doesn't work." He answered, though not really, quite confidently. "Then we try something else, until something works."

"Why aren't you more anxious?" She questioned, "We've been waiting for her for over 15,000 years." Her anxiety was enough to fill the room.

"Well technique we've only been waiting three years." He countered.

"I mean we as in the Battalion." She was practically shouting. "The Battalion has been waiting over 15,000 years!"

"I know," he mused. "BUT we, as in you and me, have only be alive for 18 of those 15,000 years. And we've only know about it for 3 of those 18 years. So, when you think about it—"

"Okay! I get it." She knew what he was getting at, "We- The Battalion has been waiting this long, and the legend probably isn't true."

The look on her face when she finished made him feel terrible for teasing her.

"Hey, I never said that." He defended himself, "If I thought that, do you actually think there is any chance I would even be here." He chuckled

She joined in with his laughter . "No, I suppose you wouldn't be here. Would you?"

"Not. A. Chance." He answered.

"No wonder I'm always working harder than you," She flipped her deep brown hair, and spun her chair around so that she was facing her computer screen and not him.

"Hey!" He sounded offended, and rolled his chair away from his desk on the other side of the room until he was in line with her at her desk. "I work just as hard as you!"

"Yeah, and I'm the queen of England." She responded, with way more sarcasm than she has ever shown before.

"When did you get so mean?" He teased.

"Well, it wasn't all at once," she answered coyly. "It slowly grew the more I spent time with you." She shoved his chair away from her.

He scoffed and put his hand to his chest like she had wounded him, but she quickly laughed and then he started to laugh too. This was probably one of their best days at work. They had been interns together for their first two years when they were 16. When they both turned 18, they 'graduated' to full time members of The Battalion, and were assigned as each other's partner. They have worked out of the same office together since they were 15, so they have developed a very odd and slightly flirtatious relationship.

"Does it ever bother that we've never been in any other office?" He asked, completely changing the subject as he scooched back to his desk.

"Nope." She answered flatly.

"Okay," He said as he went back to work at his own computer. "But doesn't it bother you a little bit that we don't ever see anyone else here?"

She turned back from her computer to look at him. He was starting out a window that didn't show the outside world, so they saw nothing but darkness. "Like we never see anyone, it's always just you and me."

"Does that bother you?" She asked him in response. "Do I really bore you that much?" Now she was offended for real this time.

"NO!" He answer right away. "No, you're great, the best person I could work with."

"Then why does it bother you that we never see anyone else?" She was confused, which was a rarity, considering she was like 10 IQ points shy of being a super genius.

"It…It's just that…. Huh... never mind." He sounded quiet, and sort of defeated.

"What?" she asked, she was slightly concerned.

"No, it's nothing, really." He turned back to his computer and started typing.

"Tell, me." She wasn't going to let this drop. He's never hidden something from her before.

"It's just that, never seeing anyone else, it makes me feel like we are alone in this fight." He turned back to look out the window, not wanting to meet her eyes. "Like none of this is even happening. Like it's not even real."

"Oh, Lenny," she used his name. They weren't supposed to do that. "Why wouldn't you want to tell me that?" She stood and walked toward him. "I feel like that sometimes too."

She stopped about three paces from him. "Lacy," He stood and walked to her. "You've never said anything like that before."

"I guess I didn't want you to think I was strange." She said looking down.

"Hey," he lifted her chin with his left hand, so that she would look him in the eyes. "I would never think you were strange. I didn't want you to think I was stupid, that why I never said anything."

"I would never think you were stupid." She whispered to him.

They were so close together. He glanced down from her eyes to her lips, then right back. She slightly leaned in and he matched her. Her eyes drooped as his hands moved to her cheeks. He closed his eyes, when her hands touched his waist. They were about to close any space between them.

And that's when the alarm went off.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE: HER

On the train, she stumbled in the crowd of people. She'd never been on this kind of train before. She had been on the Chicago L line once, but this was a completely different experience. The cars had two stories , everyone had a seat, and no one was standing. She was used to standing on trains. Clearly, she was moving too slowly, because she was pushed and shoved, mainly due to the fact that she was in the way.

Very few people were on the second story of the train, and those seats were one person per seat, versus the two persons per seat on the first story. She made her way to the back of the train car where the stairs led to the second story as quickly as possible to avoid being pushed around anymore. She ran up the stairs and sat in the nearest seat.

What am I doing? She thought to herself. How is this a good idea?

She didn't have an answer, but for some strange reason, everything felt right. Usually she would have been freaking out over making such a rash decision, but in that moment, she felt safe. She felt like for the first time, everything was as it was supposed to be.

"This is an express train toward Chicago and will not be making any stops" The overhead speaker boomed out. "The doors are closing. Please move away from the door."

The automated voice droned on, but she paid no attention to it. She was staring at the ticket, the brand new, freshly printed ticket in her hands. Even though it should be the same ticket as the one she found, this ticket felt different to her. She still didn't know what possessed her to pick up the abandoned ticket in the first place, but this time she knew why it felt different. The ticket felt like it was hers, like this ticket was supposed to be for her and not anyone else.

"You're going crazy girlie," She said to herself.

"TICKETS! Have your tickets out where I can see them!" A conductor on the first story of the train cars shouted. She looked down towards him. He was punching tickets, and scanning phones on the first story, but not the second.

"Why isn't he checking the people up here for tickets?" She wondered quietly.

"He comes back around to look at the tickets for us up here." She looked up and across the center of the car toward the voice that answered. He was probably the hottest guys she had ever seen, his smile was blinding, his dark eyes sparkled like the night sky the just rolled into the dark waves that sat upon his head. "First time on the Metra?" He questioned, looking her up and down.

"Is it that easy to see?" There was a good chance he was flirting, but an unsettling feeling grew over her, and she felt strangely threatened.

"Sort of, but only if you're really looking," He said with a smirk, "And I am really looking."

Another man, sitting opposite of the scary hot guy, next to her, chuckled. It was painfully obvious that he was trying to be seductive, and that is what put her so on edge. People never flirted with her. Like no one. Ever. Especially not hot strangers.

"HEY! UP THERE! TICKETS!" The conductor had gotten back around to the second story rows. She reached her right hand down to the eye level of the conductor, holding the new ticket.

What happens if this is the wrong kind of ticket? She was visibly shaking.

The conductor took the ticket out of her hand to get a better look. He probably couldn't read it with all her shaking.

"Oh, I see." He handed the ticket back to her, and pulled a different ticket from a large stack that he was holding. He punch a hole in that ticket, and tucked that on an odd sliver clip-thing near her feet. "You're all set."

"Um…Thanks" She said slightly confused. She was very grateful nothing bad happened. She looked back up toward the scary hot guy, not looking at him-just near him. She really didn't want to keep talking to him. Something about him was really bothering her, like when she first saw the ticket on the ground. Something was wrong here, but she didn't know what it was.

"TICKETS!" The conductor finished his second run through, and he moved on to the next train car.

If I'm really going to Chicago, she thought, then I guess I better email my professors and tell them I won't be in class today.

She retrieved her phone from her back pocket and began composing an email. After she was sure it was the politest sounding email she could make as to why she wouldn't be in class, she tried to send it, but it didn't work. She made sure her data was on, and it was, but for some reason her internet wasn't working. The train sped up, and the ride got a little rickety.

Well it is an express, she thought, so maybe this is normal. She restarted her phone hoping that would make it work. It didn't. She tried opening other apps, but they wouldn't load. She tried to send her roommate a text that she was gone, but that wouldn't send either.

What is going on with my phone?

"Your phone won't work in here." It was the same guy from before. The scary hot guy, that really needed to learn how to keep it in his pants.

"And why is that?" she asked him, slightly annoyed that he was still talking to her.

"Because I don't want it to work." He answered quite smugly.

"What?" she couldn't have heard him right.

"I'm preventing your phone from working." He said very ' matter of fact.'

Well that's not possible, she thought, so you're crazy, I'm talking to a crazy person on a train. Great.

She decided it was best to play along. She had read something once that said you should listen to what crazy people say, because if you deny their reality, they can become violent.

"Assuming that that was even possible," she said rather skeptically, "why would you do such a thing?"

"Simple. That little device has a world of information on it. That information could be very helpful to you." Now he was really scaring her. The other passengers had started to listen in, their tense postures showed their growing concern. He went on, "And if you have help, well, then you'd be harder to dispose of."

"I'm sorry what?" She had to be hearing him wrong, this had to be a misunderstanding. People don't talk like this. Openly threatening someone in front of several witnesses.

"Hey buddy," A voice piped in. It was the guy that laughed at what at the time were sad come-ons. "Lay off her will ya, or I'll file a harassment complaint and get you kicked off. My uncle runs these lines."

"Don't involve yourself," The scary guy responded, "or I'll have to take you out too."

"Daddy, what's going on up there?" It was a child from the first story, she sounded really scared.

"Nothing princess, it will all be okay." a new voice responded, presumably her father, not wanting to get involved.

She didn't blame him, she didn't want to be involved either. "We are almost home. We will get off the train and everything will be fine."

Were they in Chicago already? She thought. For the first time, she looked out the window. There were towering buildings outside. Somehow, they had already made it to Chicago.

"Stay on the train." The scary guy was looking right through her. No humor to his voice. Even though it was a command, there was a hidden threat in his words, like if she got off or even tried to, everyone would die.

"Please stay away from the doors. The doors will be opening soon. Please stay away from the doors. The doors will be opening soon." The overhead speaker said on repeat. Everyone was moving to leave, even they seemed very keen to get away from this scary guy.

As much as she, too, wanted to get away, she didn't want to put anyone else in danger. The train stopped and the doors opened. The passengers were rushing out, much faster than they had entered, she noted. They were clearly scared, and so was she. It was like this guy exuded fear.

"What is the matter with you?" She asked him. She hoped her voice carried with conviction, hiding how she was as much annoyed as she was scared.

"You are in my way." He answered, as if that was all she need to know.

"What did I ever do to you?" She asked, her breathing grew heavy . She was scared, but more than that, she was panicking.

"Nothing, yet." He answered, "And now I'm going to make sure you never do anything again."

By this point, she was hyperventilating, which seemed to confuse him, but she couldn't tell. She could no longer see him, her eyes lost focus, and everything appeared far away. She kept gasping for air, but it was like she couldn't breathe. She was having a panic attack.

And that was what was going to save her life.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR: THEM

She had never heard this alarm before. She had never heard any alarm in the office before. A high and low pitched whooping sound echoed in their small office space and out into the who-knows-what of the rest of the building. The alarm jerked her out of whatever sort of moment she was having with Lenny.

She opened her eyes to see him so close to her, bathed in the red glare of the alarm lights. His eyes were open too, and he was looking straight into hers. She wanted to talk about what almost happened, what maybe still could happen, but work took precedence.

She stepped backwards, away from him, and push him back too, gently with her hand on his chest. A slight flicker of hurt flashed in his eyes, but she could see him trying to suppress it, just as she was to her flutter heart.

"We need to figure out the reason for the alarm." She shouted over the blaring sirens, to be heard.

"No one ever said anything about any alarms," He shouted back, not angrily, just in an attempt to be heard. "Maybe this is for a fire?" he walked closer to her, "We should evacuate."

He reached out to grab her hand, but she turned and stepped away from his reach. Flying to her desk, she began to search through the top drawer. "It's not for a fire," she responded, moving to the next drawer, "Where is your manual? I can't seem to find mine." She turned back slightly, to see if he was still feeling hurt. She shouldn't have pushed him away, even though this was sort of an emergency.

"We have manuals?" He loudly asked, rather confused.

"Yes! Yes, we have manuals." She shouted back at him, on the verge of anger.

"Since when?" He asked, coming over to her desk to help her look.

Having him so close was making her feel strange, slightly sick to her stomach. "Since forever!" she answered, and moved over to his desk to look for his manual.

After flinging open all of his drawers, she found his manual in the bottom drawer on the left side. Shoved all the way in the back, presenting several stains, and displaying a few rips, the 700 paged book was altogether not very well taken care of.

"Here it is." She shouted at him, waving the manual in the air in front of his face.

"Well, would you look at that." He said staring at the book in disbelief. "I don't think I have ever seen that before."

They were next to each other again, in the center of the room. She still felt slightly uncomfortable being so close to him after… well after what had happened. "There has got to be something in here about alarms," she said while furiously flipping through the pages.

"Is there an index in this thing?" he asked while scanning the pages, trying to keep up with her rapid speed.

"Index!" She shouted, louder than she needed but she was so excited. How did she not think of that before? "That is a great idea!" She flipped the pages even faster to the back of the book. Within seconds she was at the index. "Alarms…. alarms…alarms… HA! Page 136!"

"How are you reading that fast?" he exclaimed behind her. He was completely unable to keep up.

"Practice." she said smugly. She is rarely smug, but knowledge is one of the few things she has over him. "Okay page 136, "...alarms are rare there are three and are categorized with light color." The light is red so…red light, not blue, not green - here! "Red light alarms mean…"... Holy... oh my!"

"What? What is it?" He questioned. He's never seen her so shocked before. The only other time he had seen her even slightly scared, was when he had almost drowned. Even then she brushed that off and went straight to scolding him. Fear was an emotion she only had for about 4 seconds. He was worried they were under attack.

"Alarm shut off code: R—P—Z—4—9-8—Y." The alarm stopped immediately after she spoke, but the red light was still flashing.

"What does it mean? What does the red light mean?" He said, still partially shouting. He was scanning the page over her shoulder, trying to see what had shocked her so.

"It worked." Her brown eyes meeting his warm green ones. She was still so shocked. She thought they had no chance.

"What? What worked?" he asked her. He wanted so badly to understand, so that he could help her.

"The ticket." She answered quietly. "The train ticket." She smiled at her words. She couldn't believe how happy this made her.

"Wait," he needed to process, "a-are you saying she found the train ticket?" he asked hopefully.

"That is exactly what I'm saying." She was beaming. He had never seen her smile shine this big or bright.

"That's amazing!" he said and he smiled along with her. "we did it!" he exclaimed.

"We did it!" She answered. In her accelerated state of euphoria, she threw her arms around him and held tight to him.

He laughed. He didn't know he could be this happy. They had completed their first mission, and she was hugging him. He latched onto her, breathing her in, feeling her breath on this neck and his back. It was the best feeling he had ever experienced.

She became aware of the added pressure, and pulled her head away from his neck to look him in the eyes once more. In the low light of the room, he had never looked more handsome. In her happiness she decided to be bold. She put her hands on his cheeks, closed her eyes, and kissed him.

At first, he was shocked, but after a second he release what was happening. He kissed her back, moving his right hand to the nape of her neck, tangling his fingers in her thick hair, and using his left arm to cradle her back.

She had never been happier. This was the best day of her life. She wanted to stay how they were forever, but she couldn't contain the last bit of information that came from the alarm. She broke their first kiss.

"There is one more thing," she whispered, her lips still an inch from his. He hummed in response, his eyes still closed. "She's coming here."

He opened his eyes, and looked straight into hers. He had this awful ability to look right through hated it and loved it at the same time. "Well if she's coming, that means she isn't here yet." He smiled, "how long 'till she arrives?"

"She should be here by day's end," she answered, slightly perplexed, but excited. "Why?"

"Because that means we have time for more of this," He said before he captured her lips again.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE: HER

The world was spinning. Everything was blurry. She didn't know which way was up, or which way was down. She couldn't breathe, she thought she was dying. The train car was shaking, she wasn't sure of much, but she was sure of that. She heard some creaks, pops, and sparks. Her breathing accelerated, and so did the shaking of the train.

"What are you doing?" The scary guy shouted at her. She didn't know when, but somehow he had moved right in front of her. "You're not getting away." He snarled. The man grabbed her shoulders and pulled her to stand. She could barely stay on her own two feet she was so dizzy, but he was strong. He was basically dangling her in the air. "Stop whatever you are doing right now, and I will make your death painless." he growled.

She was more terrified than she had ever been in her entire life, and as a girl with pretty bad anxiety and PTSD, that was saying something. She wasn't sure what she was seeing, she couldn't be too sure of anything anymore, but it looked like when he raised his hand, he was holding a ball of ...green fire?

This was it; her last few moments alive. She was sure of it. Only 18years old, and she was really going to die now? She was faint, and really dizzy, her mind was no longer in her body, it was like she was seeing everything through a camera lense in slow motion.

If I'm going to die, she thought, I should at least go down fighting.

She wiggled her shoulders trying to get out of his iron grip, ultimately to no avail. With all of her kicking and thrashing, no one could say she went down quietly.

"So that's how you want to this, is it?" He spat. . "Fine, then no mercy."

It had gotten unbearably hot. Even if it was impossible, there was no doubt in her mind that somehow he was holding fire. He brought the hand that held the terrifying green fireball toward her neck. Her blood felt like it was boiling beneath her skin. In what she thought was going to be her last action alive, she let out the loudest, highest, gut-wrenching scream she could manage.

The train car shuttered, the lights flickered, and glass shattered into millions pieces. He dropped her, and stumbled backwards off of the second story, destroying the protective railing, and landing onto a section of seats below. The railing had trapped him and knocked him unconscious. The world was still spinning, but she managed to catch her breath, and take in the wreckage. Somehow, the train car had been destroyed. There were sparks, frayed wires, broken glass, and torn metal fragments everywhere. She could feel the bruises on her shoulder from his hands, when she went to touch them, she saw that here hands hand cuts all over them. Her jeans and sweater were ripped and something warm was running down her face. She touched it and her hand came back with blood.

"He's down," a now familiar voice piped in. It was the guy who was sitting next to her on the train. She hadn't noticed that he was still up there with her. The familiar-stranger knelt down next to her, "we have to get out of here before he comes to."

He grabbed her hands and pulled her up to her feet. She was light headed and nearly fell, but he put an arm around her to stabilize her.

"It's all going to be okay," He whispered. "We got you, we're going to keep you safe."

Nodding, she let him lead her through the wreckage, but then she took one step and screamed. She looked down at her right leg and saw a very large piece of what was possibly a part of her seat sticking out of her right calf.

"We will get you to a doctor, okay." He said to her, "But right now, we have got to get off this train!" He was shouting, but she heard the fear in his voice. He was just as scared as she was.

With an extreme amount of effort and a very slow pace, they had managed to get down the stairs. The lower level of the train car was a disaster. She didn't understand what had happened to cause the destruction of the train. As she scanned the rubble, her eyes landed on him. The man that attacked her. The guy that wanted her dead. It still didn't make sense. She had never met him, hell, she had never even seen him before in her life.

"What is wrong with that guy?" she asked, mainly to herself, but now she wasn't alone.

"I couldn't tell you," the guy who was helping her answered. "And as interested as I am in finding out, we need to get you to a hospital. Come on."

He jostled her slightly to get her moving again. The entrance to the train car was right behind them, but the doors were welded shut, probably from the heat of the mysterious green fire. Through the window she could see police officers and firefighters. The guy helping her pulled at the doors, but they didn't budge.

"The doors are stuck," he said.

"We should try to get the attention of one of the firefighters," she breathed out to him, as loud as she could. Her voice was raspy from screaming.

"Good idea," he said. Then he started banging on the door and waving his free hand. "I don't think they see us."

"Keep trying," she said. Then she hopped away from him, releasing his other arm. "You need both hands, I can stand."

He kept banging on the door and waving his hands. Being in charge of her own balance again, she looked down at her leg. Blood was dripping down her to her ankle and was making a little pool at her right foot. There was a small trail of blood on the stairs they had come down. Her stomach churned looking at all the red ooze, she lost her balance for a second and nearly fell, but ever her protector, her rescuer caught her.

"Woah, you okay?" he asked, steadying her. The expression on his face showing his concern. "I shouldn't have let you go."

"No, I'm fine really," she said. "Thank you, you've helped me so much, but I don't even know your name." She really looked in his eyes for the first time, it was almost like all her pain washed away when she looked into those moon green pools.

"Well, my friends call me Ash, and since your blood is on my shirt," he chuckled, "I think that means we are friends."

There was a bang on the door, a firefighter had seen them and was trying to get their attention.

"Is anyone else in there with you?" The firefighter shouted.

"It's just us!" Ash yelled back.

"Wait." she grabbed his shirt so he would look at her. "What about him?"

"You really wanna save that guy?" He questioned.

"He may be deranged, but he's still a person." she declared.

"GET BACK!" the firefighter yelled as they put a odd car jack looking contraption up to the doors.

Ash did his best to help her back, just as the firefighter had told them too. She didn't want to get closer to the guy that wanted her dead, but in that moment she didn't have a choice. The door popped and creaked in front of them. There were more firefighters at the door, and they were joined by paramedics with a gurney.

"Now that you know my name," He said turning to her, looking her straight in the eyes, "do you mind telling me yours?"

"Oh, y-yeah, sorry," she flustered, she couldn't believe she hadn't told him her name. "I'm-"

"LOOK OUT!" someone shouted from the other side of the door. As the door was being pried open, some of the metal plating had fractured off, and was propelled right towards her head. She froze, still in shock from one attack, but Ash was quicker than either of them had realized. He blocked her with his own body, and took the force of the blow head on.

"Ash!" she screamed, when she realized he had been hit. He turned toward the sound of her voice. The was a large gash on his temple, his eyes were wide and unfocused. She gripped his arms, "Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

He looked as though he wanted to respond, but then his eyes rolled back. His body went limp and hit the floor.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX: THEM

"She shouldn't be taking this long!" Lacy shouted, louder than she intended, as she paced the length of their small office.

"How do you know how long she is supposed take?" Lenny questioned her. "We didn't even know what that alarm meant."

She knew he was right, she just didn't want to admit it. "I can't just wait, though. I feel like I should be doing something. Like, we should be doing something." That perked him up, in a way she didn't intend.

"Well, you know," he said as he stood up from his chair, "we could continue what we were doing before."

"T-that's not what I meant." She flustered. "We need to be preparing for her arrival."

"Two minutes?" He asked as he rubbed her arms lightly.

And, as much as she wanted to say yes and melt back into him; their work had to come first. "No." she said, shaking free from him. He made a sound like he was offended, but he broke into a laughing fit not a second later. She couldn't help but laugh with him.

"Okay," he said giving up on teasing her. He oddly enjoyed how flustered he could make her, and so quickly. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, when we were introduced to this," she remembered, "the Elders gave that presentation, maybe we-"

"Snore!" he interrupted her. "Actually though, I fell asleep during that."

"No wonder you have no idea we had a manual." she said giggling. "So, no presentation, but we can't just dump the whole history on her."

"Why not?" He questioned. "We learned how to swim by jumping in the deep end, why don't we just do that?"

"Only you did that, " She reminded him. "and you almost drowned."

"'Almost' being the key word there, because I didn't drown." He chided.

"But we don't want to scare her away." She reasoned. "How about we start with who we are and who she really is?"

"Speaking of who she is..." he said, choosing his words carefully before he continued, "how do we know it's really her?"

Before she could counter, he rambled on. "I mean, I know the alarm went off and everything, but what if was a false alarm? Or what if she doesn't make it here?" Then he asked her worst fear. "What if Logan got to her before Ash could?"

She looked like he had just killed her dog. "How could you even say that?" she shouted.

"I'm just trying to be realistic here." His hands shot up in defense. "It's happened before, in fact it's happened every time."

"But the alarm has never gone off before." She pointed out. "Not for anyone. Why do you think no one told us about it? Because it has never happened. Ash has got her, I'm sure of it."

"I have just as much faith in brother as you do-"

"Sister." she corrected.

"Yeah, sister, whatever. But no other seeker has been able to get to the new Merlin before the heir of Morgana." He said, lower his voice to a whisper. "She could already be dead again."

"Hope!" She shouted at him, "That is supposed to be your thing! Why are you giving up?"

"I'm not giving up!" He shouted back. "I want her to come just as much as you, if not, more. You know how much this has hurt my family…" He trailed off and sat back down in his chair. He was turned away from her, but she could sense the tears in his eyes, even from across the room.

"Ash will be fine," she reassured him as she walked over. She put her arms around his shoulders, in a backwards kind of hug. "She is strong. She'll come back."

"You don't know that." His voice cracked. "I can't lose anyone else..." it was barely audible, but she caught it.

"How long has it been?" she whispered, "Since your parents?"

"Seven years."

"And what did they tell you to remember in times like this?" she nudged his shoulders, slightly rocking him.

"I-I- not now Lace." he whispered.

"Come on." She soothed the strawberry-blond waves on the top of his head. "It will make you feel better."

"Hope can be found in the darkest hours when you remember that the dawn will rise." He started at a whisper, but by the end his voice had gained back some of his confidence.

"Ash knew the risks," she whispered. "She can handle it."

"I know!" he shouted, "Sorry. I know, I'm just…. I'm just scared."

"It's okay. I know." she said. "I'm here for you. You know that, don't you?" Her voice was small. She was in some ways afraid of the answer.

He turned to look her in the eye. His eyes were red and puffy, but he held her eye contact. "Of course I know that. You're everything to me, I-" he stopped himself before he went to far, but he was afraid he had already passed that point.

"Leonard," She was pretty sure she knew where he was going, "were you about to say-?"

She was cut off by the ringing of a telephone. It came from the red phone on the wall next to the door. That phone never rang.

Using the interruption as an excuse to stop where he feared their conversation was headed, Lenny stood up, strode over in three steps and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he spoke into the receiver.

"Hello this is St. Mark's Hospital," the voice on the other end said. "Is this the emergency contact for Ashton Leoncri?"

"Y-yeah, um yes." he answered, very confused and increasingly worried. "I'm Leonard Leoncri, his twin brother."

"Ashton has been in an accident. He is currently in a coma in our ICU." The voice said somberly. "We request that you come in immediately. Our address is..." Lenny didn't hear the rest. Speechless from shock, the receiver slipped out of his hand, and nearly hit the floor before the wire pulled it back up.

"What?" Lacey asked and walked over to him. "What happened? What's wrong?"

His eyes quickly welled up, and before he knew it, the first tears in seven years dropped down his cheeks. "We have to go." his voice was so small, and broken. "Ash has, Ash is….."

"Sir? Sir?" The voice on the other end said from the dangling receiver. "Are you still there? Sir?"

She picked up the phone. "Hello? Who is-"

"Hello?" the voice answered back. "Please come quickly. Ashton doesn't have much time, his injuries are quite severe. He is at St. Mark's Hospital: 1647 Chicago Ave." The voice hung up.

"Lenny," She whispered cautiously. "We need to go."

"This is why. I told him." He spoke to himself. "I told him not to, and now…. Now he's…. He…" His voice was breaking. He was getting swallowed in his own fears.

"Lenny!" She shouted. "Snap out of it! We need to go. Now!"

"I- I- I," He was breathing heavily. "I can't watch him die. I can't do it again."

"She's not going to die!" She assured him. "She wears the same protection crystal that you have around your neck right now." She pulled on the leather cord out of his shirt, and held the small pinkish crystal in front of his face. "We need to go to her. Put your crystals together and she'll be healed. You won't lose anyone else. I promise, but we need to leave right now!"

He swallowed and took a deep breath before he spoke. "Okay," he breathed deeply again. "Okay let's go."

Her hand was about to drop from the crystal, but he closed his right hand around hers. He grabbed her other hand with his left and clasped them around the crystal.

"Close your eyes, and hold your breath." He instructed her.

"What are we…?" she stopped questioning him, when his eyes closed.

"Just hold your breath, close your eyes, and trust me." he said one last time. After doing as she was told, he whispered, "aimsigh fuinseog agus cuir mid dúinn fuinseog." over and over again.

He felt the air around him heat up, and through his closed eyes, he could see the world around them brightening. He stopped the chant and held his breath.

There was a whoosh of hot air and blast of light as they were transported from their small office to somewhere on the outskirts of the hospital. Where somewhere inside, Ash was laying on a bed unconscious.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN: HER

Ash had crumpled to the ground. His eyes were open, but glazed over. "Help! HELP!" she croaked out. She could feel herself getting weaker. Without Ash helping to keep her upright she would soon join him on the ground.

Sparks started to dance around her field of vision. Her mind was no longer contained in her body; she was floating away. So, so far away. She caught brief glances of faces and badges. A mask was put on her face, and somehow she had been put on a gurnee. She couldn't focus. Her chest was hot, every breath felt like fire.

It felt as though she had been instantly pulled out of the train wreck and put into an ambulance. Usually, the whine of a siren would have given her a headache, but in that moment, it was the most beautiful lullabye. Her eyelids became like lead, and dropped as she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Her body was being thrashed and carried. The jostling woke her up. As she opened her eyes she was greeted with bright, stark-white lights, and copious amounts of people who were looking her over. Poking and prodding at her like she was a 'try me' button on a new toy in the kid aisle at Target. Suddenly her vision was eclipsed by a woman's face. Her face was warm and kind looking, sort of like a grandmother's.

"We have eyes people," she said to those working around her. "Hello, I'm Dr. Knight. You're at St. Mark's hospital." the doctor was talking to her now. "You were in a pretty bad accident, but we are doing everything we can to make sure that you will be alright."

She wanted to respond, but the mask on her face prevented her from doing so. She tried to pick up her arm to move it, but someone, one of the doctors probably, was holding on to it.

"Woah, calm down now." Exclaimed Dr. Knight. "Now, i'm going to remove the oxygen mask just for a second, so you can tell us your name, but that it's got to go right back on. Do you understand?"

She nodded her head to show that she understood, and the doctor pulled the mask just far enough off of her face so that she could talk.

"My name is Emerald Morgan," her voice was raspy and crackled, she hoped they could understand her. "Where is my friend? The guy with me on the train? Ash?" Before the mask was set back down over her mouth, she was able to get her last question out.

"Find out the status of the boy that came in with her." the doctor said to one of the staff working in the trauma room. "You said his name is Ash?" She nodded. "Do you know his last name?" she shook her head.

"One of my train cars exploded!?" A hysterical voice from outside her trauma room shouted. "My niece was on that train, and she isn't picking up her phone!"

"What's your niece's name sir?" said another voice, most likely a staff member.

"Ash. Ashton Leoncri." His voice was breaking.

ASH! Ash's uncle ran the train! He was here!

"Hang on, Ms. Morgan." Dr. Knight said, "I'll be right back, don't you worry." She went to the door of the room and looked to were the voice of Ash's uncle had come from. "Sir did you say Ash?"

"Yes! Yes!" Ash's uncle responded, "Is she in there?"

In what felt like a second, a man who must have been Ash's uncle appeared in the doorway. He wore a uniform similar to the conductor who punched her ticket. He looked nothing like Ash: he was short, blonde, and pale. The only similarity were those piercing green eyes.

"That's not Ash." he sounded so dejected, her heart broke a little.

"No, this is Ash's friend. They saved each other on that train." explained Dr. Knight. "Ash is in another room, I had sent an intern for a status update on him.. Er her. I do know that Ash was taken to surgery. He- she, had a some blunt force trauma to the temple. Oh, here is that intern I mentioned."

"Doctor. Surgery is going well." said a new voice, that must have belonged to the intern. "There was some minor internal bleeding, but Dr. Vanhojen has that almost entirely cleared out. He should make a full recovery."

"Oh, thank God!" exclaimed Ash's uncle.

"Dr. Malevo, would you take Mr. Leoncri to the waiting room please?" asked Dr. Knight.

"Right away Doctor." answered the intern's voice.

"Wait," it was Ash's uncle, "What about her friend? Who is she?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but I can't release that information." Dr. Knight said.

"Please. If she helped save my niece," his voice broke. "I need to know that she is okay."

"I'm sorry," Dr. Knight answered, she could hear Ash's uncle sobbing. "But I can't give away an information about a patient that you aren't related too. Dr. Malevo, the waiting room"

Time was moving faster than it should have, because not a second later, Dr. Knight's smiling face was looking down on her again. "Your friend is doing very well," the doctor told her. "And it looks like you won't be needing surgery for that leg wound."

"Doctor we are ready to move her to the ICU." said a voice from somewhere inside the room.

"Alright, my resident is going to take you to our Intensive Care Unit," explained the doctor. "You are going to be monitored 24/7, but we hope to have you up and walking within the next three days. Now, get some rest." Dr. Knight left her view, and based on the sound of her footsteps, left the room as well.

"Ms. Morgan, I'm going to increase some of your medication." sounded a voice from somewhere she couldn't identify. "You may start to feel drowsy, that is the medicine, don't fight it. It's keeping away any infection."

After they said the word drowsy, it was like a bell went off, and she drifted to sleep.

Unfortunately this time, it was not dreamless.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT: THEM

Planal jumps were not fun. He was out of practice, which made the experience that much more nauseating.

I hope Lacy is feeling okay after that, He thought.

He opened his eyes when he was sure they had landed. "Okay Lace," he whispered in her ear, "we've landed. You can open your eyes now."

"I don't want to." she mumbled, slumping up against his chest. "God, my head hurts. What was that?"

"Planal jump," he answered. "Ash and I are connected on many levels." he explained further, "Since we are twins, and identical twins at that, we have a very strong connection. We can harness the power of that connection through the crystals our father gave us, so that we can always be there for each other. Literally."

For the first time since they landed, he took his eyes off of her and scanned their surroundings: the busily sidewalk of the inner city of Chicago. "Unfortunately, our 'connection' has been weakening, which is why we aren't in the hospital," he said to her, before muttering to himself, "I hope to God we are close."

"Alright then." Lacey said, picking her head up from his chest and opening her eyes. "Now, let's get a move on. What was the address?"

"1617 Chicago Ave." he responded. "Or-wait. Was it 1746? Or…. I-I can't remember the address!"

"It's on Chicago." she said, making sure he wasn't falling down his hole of fears again. "We'll see it."

Heading south towards Chicago Avenue, Lenny was finding it difficult to focus on the numbers of the buildings. His breathing was erratic, and his hand was still crumpled around the crystal he shared with his twin.

"It should be getting warmer." They were the first words he had spoken in 6 blocks. His voice was raspy, partly from crying and partly from fear and aggravation. "We're going the wrong way." he turned around and started to walk back from where they came.

"Lenny?" Lacey shouted after him. "Lenny! STOP!" she clamped onto his arm with both hands. "What are you talking about? The wrong way? Getting warmer? This is the way to St. Marks. We both know this."

Turning to her, he shouted, "I know!" then realizing his volume, he lowered his voice. "I'm sorry. I know St. Mark's is that way, but that isn't where my brother is."

"Sister." she corrected.

"Sister. Whatever." turning back the way the came he continued walking.

"No not whatever." she said after him. She cut him off on the sidewalk. "I know Ash came out only recently, and it's an adjustment, but if you forget her pronouns in front of her, she'll be really hurt."

"I can't talk about this with you." he responded, not looking at her. He tried to move passed her, but she wouldn't let.

"Since when can't you talk to me about something?" she questioned, verging on anger. "I thought we told each other everything!"

"AND I THOUGHT ASH AND I TOLD EACHOTHER EVERYTHING, BUT AS IT TURNS OUT I WAS WRONG!" he screamed back at her. Her eyes went wide. Lenny had never raised his voice like that. Ever. People slowed down on the street to look at them. "I'm sorry, that wasn't- I didn't mean- Sorry." pleading at her with his eyes, "can we just keep going? Please." He pushed passed her and kept walking.

"What do you you mean, then?" she demanded, still in the same place.

"What?" He asked quietly, looking back to her.

"You said 'I didn't mean-" she answered. "You didn't mean what? And what do you actually mean?"

He quickly walked back over to her, and look at her dead in the eyes. "I mean that the only reason I know that I have a twin sister and not a twin brother is because of you." Confusion displayed upon her face, so he clarified. "Ash hadn't told me yet. You told me. So you know what? I'm mad. I'm mad at him-er-her. Please let's keep moving, because even though I'm mad, she's my twin, and I love her, so let's go."

"She has a right to tell you when she's ready," Lacey started, cautiously. "Maybe she was just waiting for the right time."

"Well she found the right time to tell you and the right time to tell Uncle AL," he countered. "And yet, she still couldn't find a time to tell me."

"Why are you mad about that? This has to be hard for her." Lacey hated seeing him upset, but she wasn't sure she was helping him any. Still, she still felt like that was the right thing to say in this situation.

"Yeah, okay. I get that it is hard to come out," he admitted. "If she was scared that she wouldn't be accepted. I could see her being scared to tell Uncle AL, but me!? Are you really trying to say, she was scared that I wouldn't accept her?!"

"Well two seconds ago it sounded like you didn't." Lacey retorted.

"I tell Ash everything! Every thought, secret, hope, and dream I have ever had I have told to Ash! And he never- I mean she never- even hinted- she kept this secret from me. Sixteen years we shared a room, and nothing. She says goodbye to go on this mission, and she tells you but not me." He was nearly shouting again, and Lacey was more confused about his reaction, now more than ever.

"So you're mad she didn't tell you first." She guessed. "Sweetie, that's for her to decide not you. I know that hurts, but-"

"It's not that she didn't tell me first. It that she didn't tell me at all!" he said, voice raising. "You want me to break this down for you?" he asked, lower his voice back down.

"Please." she answered. "I just want to understand. So that I can help you two."

"I'm mad because she didn't tell me, but it's more than that." He took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm mad that she doesn't trusts me enough to tell me. I'm mad that Ash trusts me the least out of everyone, when she is the person that I trust the most in the world!"

Tears were brimming his eyes again, and this time she was sure she understood. But she also understood that he was wrong, Ash had told her as much when she came out. But that was Ash's story to tell, not her's.

"You need to talk to you sister and sort this out." he looked like he wanted to retort, but she continued. "It will make sense when you talk to her, and I'm pretty sure it will allow you to understand, and make you less psychotic. Please don't blow up again until you talk to her, okay?"

"Lacey, I-"

"OKAY?"

"Okay." he answered. A short silence fell upon the two before Lenny broke it., "I didn't 'blow up.'" He laughed, back to his usual happy self.

"You really did," she countered, before whispering, "People were staring, honey."

"Did just call me honey?" he asked, a smile growing on his lips.

"I called you sweetie before, but you were too busy blowing up to notice." she winked.

"So we're at the level of pet names now?" He asked hopefully.

"I don't know… maybe?" she answered. She hadn't really given it much thought, they just felt right to say in the moment.

"I really want to talk about this with you," he said, grabbing her hand. "But we need to keep going. We have to get to Ash. As confusing as she is, and as mad as she makes me sometimes, I can't lose her!"

He pulled her down the sidewalk with one hand, practically a run. His other hand was still clutching onto the crystal.

"It's getting warmer." he whispered to himself.

"You said that before." Lacey commented. "What are you talking about?"

"What?" he asked. "What did I say?"

"It's getting warmer." she answered. "What does that mean?"

"The crystal." he answered, but she was still confused. "It gets warmer the closer we are to each other."

"So are we getting close then?" she questioned. "That doesn't make any sense. The woman on the phone said Ash was at St. Mark's, and St. Mark's is-"

"No she didn't." Lenny said, cutting her off. "She said St. Mac's."

"No, she said St. Mark's." She corrected. "We aren't allowed anywhere near St. Mac's. It sits on top of a magic Black hole."

"Holy buckets!" exclaimed Lenny. "Ash is at Mac's I know it, but you were thinking Mark's. That' why we didn't land there."

"The woman on the phone said Mark's not Mac's I'm pos-"

"I'm positive you're positive," he said, "But my twin-senses say we need to go to Mac's. I don't know why they are there, but they are."

"Oh m'lord!" Lacey screeched. "What if Logan brought the new Merlin to Mac's so that she would be drained of her magic?"

"Crap!" He answered. "Then the world is screwed."

"We got to get to St. Mac's and fast!" Lacey shouted.

Then they took of running, following the directions given by Lenny's crystal, until they had gotten to St. Mac's.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE: HER

Pain is interesting. It is the body's way of saying something is wrong. So, wouldn't that make pain a good thing? Well, no, because that means something is wrong in you body, or your mind, or your soul. Perhaps that is why it hurts so much.

She could never remember having a dream that was painful or a dream that was so fast or scattered. There's a first time for everything.

Ever since her childhood, she loved mirror mazes, but this one was different. Instead of herself as she was, each mirror showed something different. In one mirror, was how she woke up that morning. The mirror next to it was her all bloodied up from the train. There was a mirror with her as a little girl in a blue tutu, and one where she was an old woman in purple velvet robes. Images of her at different stages in her life, filled every mirror in the hallway.

"Okay," she spoke, her voice sounded garbled, like it was underwater. "I'm getting out of here."

She ran to the end of the hallway and turned the corner. She was still surrounded by mirrors, but they no longer showed her. The mirrors held images of people and events that she had never seen before. One had a large green dragon fighting a smaller purple dragon. There was a still of an old west style shoot out. Another displayed an image of medieval knights in a joust. All the mirrors held a battle between two people (or creatures, in the case of the dragons) in different eras of time. All equal interesting to view, but the mirror at the end of the hallway displayed an image that perked her interest. It was an imagine she had seen before, but as a picture. A woman in a twenty's style flapper outfit, sucker punching some guy dressed like an Italian mobster. That was her favorite picture of her….

"Grandma?" she said, shocked.

"Yes, Em." a voice answered from behind her.

"Granny? How?" she stammered. "What...what is going on what does this mean?"

"Oh, honey." her old wrinkled face looked just as Em had remeber. "I really thought someone would have told you by now. I would have told you myself if I hadn't up and died the way I did."

Em wasn't listening, her eyes were welling up. She rushed her gran, and captured her in a hug. "I missed you so much!" she cried out.

"I know bumblebee." Her Gran was choked up too. "I missed you too! But we ain't got time for too much of this. You've got to get going before you get into trouble."

"What do mean?" she was heart broken to think that she had to say goodbye to her Grandmother again. "What's going on? I'm dreaming- no one can hurt me in a dream."

"Well flower," she answered, voice somber. "That would be true if this was a normal dream. But honeysuckle, it ain't. This dream is magic."

"This isn't one of your stories Granny," she laughed. "This is real life. Well a dream of real life, and it's my dream. I just got you back and we are going to take up all the time we want."

"Baby girl." she warned. "Your parents taught you not to talk back to your Grandma. I am telling you Emmi, this is magic, and it is dangerous."

"Gran, magic doesn't exist." she reasoned.

"Oh really, then what was that lad holding to your throat on the train?" she questioned, before going over and touching the mirror. The picture of her in youth faded, and was replaced by an image of Em being dangled in the scary guy's clutches on the train car, not three hours ago.

"Why are the hot ones always so mean?" Em questioned under her breath.

"Now don't you go getting any ideas about this boy." her Granny warned. "He is a menace just like his grandpappy was, and you saw I handled him." she held up her fist.

"Wait... the guy you punch is related to the guy who attacked me?" she was confused. Why was he subconsciously so strange?

"You're darn tootin'." responded her Gran, "It's their blood line that makes them as evil as they are."

"HOLD UP!" Em exclaimed. "Are profiling people based on their blood? What are you, a Slytherin or something?"

"You remember any of those stories I used to tell you?" Her Gran asked wistfully.

"Of course," Em laughed. "Of knights, and kings, and magic, and princesses, and dragons. And King Arthur and The Round Table, that story was my favorite."

"Well Bee." she started, with sorrow in her eyes. "Those aren't just stories. They are also our history. Or more specifically, your history."

"Umm…...what?" Em asked rather suspicious.

"Oh, honey," Gran said, tears bubbling up. "I wanted to tell you sooner to prepare you. I knew since the night Logan senior came up to me in that speakeasy that my Granddaughter was going to be the next reincarnated Merlin. He wanted to make sure that never happened by ending my life the way that boy, Logan III tried to end yours today."

Em tried, and failed, to rap her brian around all that information. "Umm.. Come again?"

"It's all real." Gran answered. "King Arthur, the Round Table, Dragons, and magic. They are all real, and honeybadger, you have magic. You are Merlin in this story."

"Okay I want to wake up now." Em said closing her eyes, trying to force herself to wake up.

Her Gran jostled her keeping her grounded to the dream. "Not yet, flower. There are a few more things I need to tell you."

"No!" she shouted. She had never raised her voice at her Grandma before, but she needed too. "No, okay? My story is not some magical, chosen one nonsense. I'm not special, I'm just an average kid that had a crappy childhood. That isn't unheard of. There isn't some magical reason for it. It just happened."

"Yes," her Gran responded. "The things that happened to you when you were younger, were awful, but believe me when I tell you this, Honey. Those things have nothing to do with this. You are Merlin, and would be Merlin no matter what happened to you. Yes, you are chosen, and if you think you're not special, well guess what, you're not. Thousands have been chosen, you are not some special one."

"Jeez, Gran." Em said, pretty hurt. "You don't have to shatter my self-confidence too."

"Oh, Honey," Gran face softened. "You know we all love you. You have to know that."

"Somewhere," Em said slowly, "I think I know that."

"Flower, we don't have too much time left." warned Gran. "The more we use this magic, the easier it will be for the Mortenson's to find you."

"Again, with the magic, Gran." Em sighed. "Okay, let's pretend for a moment, that I believe you. Magic is real, and apparently I am a super magic user like Merlin-"

"You are a Merlin, Bumble," Gran correct. "You are Emrys reincarnated."

"Sure." she responded. She was confused, but question anything would make them drop further down this strange rabbit hole. "What am I supposed to do? I'm just Em, just Little Emmi."

"Well, Little Emmi," Gran said laughing. "Anyone can do anything, regardless you of who they are and where they come from. Even little, not special you."

"I thought we were talking about magic," Em said with a giggle. "How did this turn into a speech about following your dreams?"

"Dreams show us what is happening in our lives, and..." Gran took a deep breath before continuing. "...And what we need to survive. This is what you you need, Honey. Remember this, because you life is going to get hard."

The hallway began to shudder, like an earthquake had hit. The images started to lose their color, and where being saturated in a gross, yellow light. The walls started cracking, and the end of the hallway started to dissolve in a chartreuse fog.

"Gran, what's happening?" Em asked. She had turned to look at the dissolving hallway, and when she looked back her Grandmother was gone. "GRAN?!"

"Remember what I told you." her Grandma's voice echoed throughout the hall. "Trust your Finder." she said something else, but Em couldn't make it out, but she thought she heard the word trust again.

The cracking of the walls had gotten louder, and had spread to the floor and ceiling. The mirrors shock, and began to dislodge from the walls. The flooring underneath her started to break away, too. Everything dissolved, and she fell into the abyss.

Her worst nightmare had begun.


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN: THEM

They had been wandering Chicago with no definable pattern for almost four hours. Lenny was sure he was going the right way, even though they had turned around, doubled back, and changed directions several times. He could tell that Lacey was losing hope in his homing beacon on Ash, but he had to keep trying. He had to get to his brother….. Er Sister.

"Lenny," Lacey started cautiously, "We should just go to the hospital. We could have been there by now this is wasting time."

Lenny reeled on her. "Don't you think I know that?"

"Frankly," she huffed, "I'm not sure. Even though we thought we had the wrong hospital, we could have gone to both by now. I really don't know what you're doing."

"I'm looking for Ash!" he shouted, louder than he intended. "The heat of my half of the crystal is in a strange flux, I don't know what's going on. But Ash is in trouble and I need to get to him… ug Her!"

"Stop!" shouted Lacey. He was in distress and she could sense it. "You aren't thinking clearly. You're too emotional right now, it's clouding you judgement."

"Of course I'm emotional!" Lenny shouted back. "You don't have siblings! You don't understand!"

"I do! I do understand." she tried to calm her voice, to calm him, but that wasn't really working. Anger flashed across his face. "Listen. I don't know how your crystal works, but maybe it is working properly because you aren't focusing."

"I am focusing!" He declared, rather loudly, causing a few heads of the passersby to turn in their direction.

"Breath," commanded Lacey. "Just breathe. We went to St. Mac's and she wasn't there, but we haven't gone to St. Mark's. Maybe Logan is tricking the crystal. Making us go the wrong way."

"That's not possible." Lenny rejected her hypothesis.

"It could be." she said cautiously, and then hesitated before continuing. "We don't know the extent of his powers, or what knowledge of us the Mortensen's have."

He took a deep, but shaky breath and looked at the ground. The he took off the leather necklace that held the crystal. The crystal flicked a faint whitish-blue light before dulling back to just the rock that is was. Lenny then put it in the right front pocket of his jeans. "Maybe you're right." his voice small and defeated. "Lead the way."

When he looked back up at her, his eyes were red and dull. He was losing hope. "We will find him." she assured him, but his face was so down cast. He had given up.

"Sure." he said with absolutely no belief. He was always the one to say that anything was possible as long as you believed. He was his only little ray of sunshine in the darkness, and LAcey had grown to rely on that. If he was going to be pessimistic, then Lacey knew what her role needed to be.

"Alright, Mr. Grumpy,"she scolded. "You can stand there and pout all you want, but the truth of the matter you and I both know nothing of the situation. We haven't seen Ash in a week. Maybe she is fine. Maybe that call was just to get us to go to Saint Mark's. She could be scrambling the signal on your crystal-"

"That's not how that works." interrupted Lenny. He was still skeptical, but the glimmer of mischief that floats in the pools of green that are his eyes had started to return, ever so slightly.

"Well, in any case," she brushed off the comment. But she was happy to see him climbing out of the abyss. "We just don't know what's happening yet. We should just go to Mark's."

"But the polarity of my crystal is telling me-" started Lenny.

"We are GOING to St. Mark's NOW!" she demanded. Lenny thought that she was being unnecessarily loud and bossy, but there was no way he would say that to her.

"Fine." he agreed. "Which way do we go?"

"Just follow me," she said, with an underlying hint of humor. "Don't wander off, I know how to get there."

"Lead the way, Captain." joked Lenny back at her. He was finally smiling again. He realized what she had been doing. She knew he was upset, but didn't know exactly why. If he was being honest with himself, he hadn't known why he was so angry until she had asked him all of those questions. He needed to talk out what he was feeling and she knew that. He was grateful, but didn't know how to thank her. Hell, he didn't even know how to tell her that he loved her. They spent eight hours together everyday, and he could never figure out how to say it.

"Okay, we are closer to the east…" Lacey kept talking about where they were in Chicago, and the fastest way to get to St. Mark's, but Lenny wasn't listening. He was just looking at her. He hadn't realised until this moment, how much he depended on her.

Lacey had been in his life for as long as he could remember. They learned to swim together, they learned how to ride a bike together, they were homeschooled together, they worked together, and he was pretty sure they learned how to crawl together. She was there for him when his parents died when they were eleven, and he held her when his father told her what happened to her parents when they were eight. In all his memories with Lacey, he sometimes forgot that it wasn't just them alone.

Ash was always with them. Lenny, Ash, and Lacey were a family, but Lenny didn't even consider that Lacey might be just as close to Ash as she was to him.

"Why did he tell you?" Lenny questioned quietly.

They had walked almost 20 blocks since he had last spoke, Lacey almost didn't realise it was Lenny who was talking. "What did you say?" she said turning to him.

"Ash." Lenny stopped to look at her. "Did he...She, tell you why she was telling you when she did?"

"Lenny," Lacey started cautiously. "I already told you. You need to talk to Ash about this okay?"

"No," he admitted. They were blocking the middle of the sidewalk. After three rude comments that amouted to get out of the way, Lenny pulled Lacey into the nearest store door. "That answer isn't working for me right now. I can't focus, give me a little more so that I can let it go for the moment."

"She didn't say anything like that. I'm sorry, but you really need to get all of this from her, and I'm sorry but I don't think I should be in the middle of it." she looked and sounded apologetic, but he needed to ask her one last question.

"When did she tell you?" Lenny aid flatly.

"What?"

"When did she tell you?" he repeated slower, articulating every word. "How did it even come up?"

"I don't remember exactly." she was avoiding the question. He knew her too well to misunderstand her. He wasn't going to like the answer, but that made want to know even more.

"You remember Lacey." he declared. "You almost have a photographic memory. Just tell me."

"You want to know when she told me." Lacey clarified

"Yes," Lenny answered.

"You really don't, Len." she responded.

"Yes! Yes I do." he assured her.

"Fine," she agreed. "But you aren't going to like the answer."

"I figured as much." he said emotionlessly.

"Okay." Lacey started. "Ash told me… She told me….." she took a deep breath.

"Just tell me Lacey!" Lenny shouted at her.

"She told me when we were kids!" she shouted back. "I think we were six or seven." she finished quietly.

"Six or…." He couldn't wrap his mind around the idea. "So you've known for over ten years!?" His voice was raising again. "And you didn't tell me UNTIL TWO DAYS AGO!"

"I wanted to tell you right after she told me," Lacey apologized. "But she made me promise that I wouldn't until she told you."

"So what?" he was spiralling again, but he couldn't help it. "What? You two just sat on the biggest, most important piece of information, and just didn't tell me!?" Everyone he trusted didn't trust him back, they all lied and betrayed him.

"No!" she shouted at him. "It wasn't like that. I begged her everyday to tell you. I've wanted to tell you so many times."

"Then why didn't you? Huh?" He knew he had asked for this conversation, and he knew he wasn't going to like the outcome. He had just never imagined that he would hate her response this much.

"Because-oh God this is what I knew would happen, and I don't have the words to fix it." Lacey was talking mainly to herself, but in saying that out loud, she had made Lenny jump to some terrible conclusions.

"You both kept this from me!" he accused. "The two most important people to me, kept the biggest secret from me. I told you everything and-"

"And I've told you everything!" she interrupted. Lacey couldn't let this continue. She had to shut it down. "I didn't say anything, because it isn't my secret to tell. It killed me every second that I kept this from you. Why do think I blurted it out?" she didn't let him answer. "Because I could kept it from you anymore than I could keep anything else from you, because I do tell you everything. And do you know why Ash hadn't told you but was able to tell others?" again she didn't let him answer. "It's not because you matter less, or that she was afraid you wouldn't accept her. It's because you matter the most, and the thought of you not accepting her, even 1% would break her. You are the person she trust the most, the person she needs the most and the person she loves the most. She didn't want to lose you! Why don't you get that?"

"I do, though," Lenny pleaded. "I do get that, because it's the same for me. But what you and Ash did-"

"What we did, was what Ash thought needed to happen so that neither of us lost you!" Lacey was on a roll, there was no way Lenny was getting another word in until she was finished. "Loom how mad you got when you thought we didn't trust you. Don't you get how much that hurts? I trust you more than I thought I could ever trust anyone after what happened with my parents. If I lost you too, and Ash lost lost you because of me…. God, that would kill me. Ash was scared of losing you that's why she didn't tell you. She thought she should tell me, so that I could help her find a time to tell you. Whenever we thought we had found the right time, something always got in the way, because she has tried to tell you, so many times. She swore to me she would tell you before she left, but apparently she didn't. I wouldn't have said anything, but I really thought you knew."

Tears had begun to fill her eyes during her little speech. Her pupils had dilated so large, Lenny couldn't see the brown color anymore. He realized, when she had stopped talking, that she hadn't been breathing. Her breaths were rapid, and she started shaking. She clenched her fists and her jaw; her nearly black eyes bore holes into the ground, she was staring so intently.

He realised she was waiting for him to respond. "Umm…. I… well… Lace….I…..ug….what do you want me to say?" his voice was cracking too. He hadn't realised how fast his breathing had gotten. He didn't know how to absorb what she just said.

"Say something." a tear fell as she spoke. He had never seen her cry; even when Al told her who her birth parents were, she didn't cry.

"I…. I guess, I get it, but…" he didn't know what he was saying, but it was how he felt. "But, I'm still hurt. Just because you and Ash were scared, or-or sad, that doesn't mean my feelings don't count."

"I'm not saying they don't count," Her eyes were red and puffy. Her voice was cracking as more tears dropped down her cheek. "All I'm saying is...uhg… you two are so hurt just by the idea that the other doesn't respect or trust you, and you both go to these major extremes of emotions. You both fall down this hole of intense emotion, and I have to keep pulling you two out of it. You two are so important to me, and I have to watch you two tear each other down, without even meaning to. I want to intervene, and make it better, but I'm so scared of messing it up, or making it worse, and then you want me around anymore."

He had never seen her like this, and he didn't really understand what had gotten her so riled up. He knew what she was saying, but she had never said anything of the sort before. He just knew that seeing her in such distress, he wanted to comfort her, make it better for her. He felt this instinctual need to protect her from whatever was making her feel that way, and it angered him to know that what was making her feel this way, was in fact him.

"Tell me how I can fix it." he pleaded with her. "Please let me fix it. I'll do whatever you say."

"Talk to Ash. Stop being mad at her for being scared. Recognize that she loves you and just doesn't want to lose you. Realize that you love her so much, that you sometimes miss her love for you." Her mouth was on autopilot. She had opened up so much over the past few minutes, she was like a faucet, just spilling out everything she had kept bottled up. "And you need to understand that we love you, and all we want is to keep you around. God, I am so scared of losing you I can't even tell you that I'm in love with you!"

"Lacey…" turning on a dime, he went from mad and sad and confused to the happiest he has ever been.

"Oh, my god!" Lacey gasped. Her face said every she was feeling. The shock of heer words, showed in her wide eyes, and the embarrassment of just blurting out what she had said glowed on her face with a bright red blush.

"Kiss her already!" A female voice shouted from a few feet away. All of their yelling had attracted a bit of a crowd. They were in a pretty fancy store in downtown Chicago, those were always packed.

Lacey looked like a deer in headlights. Lenny instantly flashed back, to the time she was called to give a status report in front of the whole Battalion, during their internship. She nearly passed out before running out of the room and throwing up into a plant. He watched her face grow a slight green hue.

"Lacey…. Wai-" He didn't get to finish. She bolted out of the door then had entered. Still stunned from their conversation, his reaction time was slower than a sloth's. He hadn't even registered that she had run out until she was completely out of his view.

"Go after her!" shouted from the crowd. It started off with the same woman from before, but within seconds the whole crowd was encouraging him to go find her. He ran out of the shop, cheers of the crowd behind him, and barreled down the sidewalk that he had seen Lacey run down.

He had ran six city blocks, but there was still no sign of her. He was about to double back to the store, when a burning sensation on his thigh forced him to stop running. The crystal in his pocket was glowing and burning. He ducked into the nearest alley to not draw anyone's attention. Even though nearly no one believed in magic anymore, most people have a fear of the unexplained, and he did not want to get arrested at the moment.

Too hot to touch, he pulled the crystal out of his pocket by the cord. A pink light was whirling around the crystal, like a police light. That was what crystals look like when someone is trying to summon the crystal's keeper. However, only one person could summon Lenny through his crystal.

"Ash." Lenny whispered, before he was enveloped in light, and sucked into the planal field.


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN: ASH

Why was it so dark? Why couldn't she breath? Something was in her throat, and she was choking on it. She thought she was dying. She couldn't see anything besides some blinking red, green, and blue lights. She tried to grasp at whatever was choking her, but she could barely move her hands. Sparks dances across her vision, and her heart started beating faster, and harder. She heard a high pitched beep, and within a second a white light shone over her eyes, but her eyelids were too heavy. She passed out.

Her dream was scattered. She remembered the fire and smoke and shattered glass, of the train car. She could feel the pain of cuts on her hands from the glass, and the heat of the fire. She watched herself collapse from the blow to her head. Then the dream shifted.

Now she was on a cliff by the ocean. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that she had been there before. It was the cliff in Ireland, that she and Len and grown up on. She could almost smell the sea salt mist. She turned around, to see the small cottage she called home until she was sixteen, but there was something else too. That girl was there, the one from the train, she was fighting someone. It was the creepy guy from the train. Logan! There wasn't a doubt for her, she knew that he had to be Logan. He was throwing the same green fire he had on the train, but she was deflecting it with… a water whip? When had she learned to use magic?

The dream shifted to another scene. A black stone castle lit by the light of the full moon. From out of the windows of the castle, smoke demons fly out and creatures made of a dark ooze slide down the stones. The knights of the battalion were in a heated battle against the monsters, trying to get into to the castle. Something else was off too. Her brother was there. He was holding a sword, and fighting off… a chimera? He hated swords, after what happened to their parents, he never touched them. Why would he wield one now?

The last image she was of her friend. Her only real friend, Lacey. Lacey wasn't a relative, she was Ash's friend not because of blood, but because she wanted to be. Ash wasn't used to people liking her that didn't have to. Sure, she knew her brother and her uncle liked her, but they were family, they were required to like her, at least she hoped they were required to like her. Lacey was chained to a chair in a dark room. She was bloody and beaten.

Ash ran over to her. To help her, but she couldn't touch her. She wasn't really there. Her hand went right through the chains, the chair, and Lacey.

"Lacey?" Ash spoke aloud. "Can you hear me?"

Lacey picked up her head, and for a moment Ash thought she was looking at her. Her heart fell as she realized that Lacey was actually looking through her. At something, or someone, behind her.

"Regretting your choice yet?" a gnarly voice growled from behind Ash. It must have been the person Lacey was looking at. Ash turned around, to face the voice, but all she saw was blackness.

"Never!" Lacey shouted, but her voice was cracked and raspy.

"You will." The voice moved. Now it sounded in front of Ash, but she still saw nothing. "Soon enough, you won't have anything. The Battalion will be killed, the merlin will be eradicated, but don't worry we'll save your friends."

"And why would you do that?" Lacey croaked. Her eyes looked as though they were following someone. Ash tried to trace her view, but for her they were still alone in the dark room.

"Because, Lacillia," The voice continued. It sounded heavy now, like it held a presence in the room. Ash scanned around but still saw no one. "You are going to kill them."

"No!" Lacey's voice held more weight too. "I won't!"

"Yes, you will." The owner of the voice appeared in a wisp of black smoke. A figure cloaked in black robes stood over Lacey. The figures hand reached up and grabbed Lacey's jaw. Its finger nails were like black painted claws that dug into Lacey's skin drawing a small amount of blood. "You will do as I say."

"No. I won't." Lacey said with confidence. "You don't have any power over me. I can, and will resist you, and then I am going to kill you."

"Oh little girl, little girl." the figure said as it slapped Lacey's cheek. "How dare you threaten your mother like that?"

"What?" Ash screeched. Both Lacey and The figure (her mother?) turned toward Ash. Ash caught a glimpse of The figures glowing white eyes, before the scene faded.

Ash awoke to 300 volts of electricity coursing through her chest. It was a strange sort of pain, one she had never felt before, and one she hoped she never had to feel again. It was like she got run over and tramped but a herd of wild sheep, and a biker gang. She gasped or at least tried to. There was a tube in her throat, that must have been what was choking her before.

"Pull the intubation out!" Someone shouted, but it sounded distant to Ash's ears. "He's trying to breath on his own."

Tape, that she hadn't realized was there, was ripped off from around her mouth, and a long tube was pulled out from deep in her throat. The whole ordeal felt like she had just thrown up for a minute straight. Coughing and wheezing, Ash became strangely aware of the hands all over her body. And she was pretty sure she was naked.

An old weather female face eclipsed her view. "Hi, Ashton." the face spoke softy. "You're in a hospital, you were in an accident. I'm Dr. Knight, we are trying to help you, but you need to calm down."

Ash was still trying to breath normal. All she wanted was to sit up, but the hands wouldn't let her. The harder she tried to sit up, the harder they pushed down on her.

"You just had surgery. You need to calm down, so you don't pop your stitches." The doctor told her. Dr. Knight?

Ash took a deep breath, and stilled her movements. She tried to speak, to ask what happened, and where she was, but no sound came out.

"Don't try to talk dear," Dr. Knight said. "Talking after being intubated can damage your vocal cords."

"Doctor should I update the family?" a small masculine sounding voice said, from somewhere Ash couldn't see.

Dr. Knight turned away from Ash, and presumably toward the voice. "Yes, please do," The doctor turned back to Ash. "Your Uncle is here. And your friend, that came in with you, she is doing just fine."

Ash knew that the doctor was talking about the girl, the girl Ash was supposed to find. That girl was her Mission. She wanted more information, but just as she was about to ask, an oxygen mask was put over her mouth.

"In fact," the doctor continued. "She is sleeping right next to you. I hope you don't mind, but we joined your rooms. She was very concerned about you."

Ash was able to turn her head slightly and caught a glimpse of the girls blonde curls, but she wasn't able to see to much else.

"You both seem to be out of the woods," the doctor was still prattling on. "But we are going to monitor you both for the three days or so. Now, get so rest."

The doctor left the room, along with a trail of other people that were helping. Ash knew this, because finally there were no more hands touching her. Breathing hurt her lungs and throat, she tried to take shallow breaths but that made it worst. The girl was tossing and turning next to her, she must have been having a bad dream. Ash still didn't know her name, which wasn't great considering she was only 90% that she was the right person.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ash caught the sight of a faint pink light. On a table close to her bed sat her clothes from that day, and scattered in the pile was a simple leather strap necklace that held a mostly clear, but slightly pink crystal. It was a gift from her late grandfather on the day of her birth, it was supposed to be a protective crystal. It was imbued with a healing spell, that her grandfather assured them would have saved his own twin brother had they been wearing them. She shared the other half with her twin, and they had never been sick, broken a bone, hell she wasn't sure they had ever gotten a cut.

This was the first time she hadn't wore her necklace, and she was feeling it. She had never felt pain this bad, especially considering she had barely felt pain. She tried to reach her necklace, but it was no use. She didn't have the energy to sit up. She was just going to have to suffer through this healing process, until she could get the necklace back on.

The monitor next to her started beeping erratically. It wasn't her monitor, but the girl from the train's. Ash knew next to nothing about medicine, but she was sure that the beeping and flashing on the monitor was not a good thing. After a few seconds of fast high pitched beeps, the monitor flatlined, Ash knew what that sounded like.

"CODE BLUE: ICU CODE BLUE: ICU CODE BLUE: ICU" droned from out of the PA system. A short woman in green scrubs ran into the room and made a beeline for the girl's bedside.

"She's crashing!" she shouted "Someone get me a crash cart!" She put her hands on the girl's chest and started CPR.

Then four more people ran in the room, wheeling in with them a large cart with something that looked like a toaster oven on top.

"Hold compressions!" one of them shouted. "We need to put in the board. On my Count!"

One of the doctors picked up a large plastic orange board, like the kind a lifeguard has, and ran to the bedside. The doctor that shouted and the woman who was doing CPR then grabbed the girl's shoulders.

"One. Two. Three!" the same doctor shouted, as they rolled the girl up and shoved the board underneath her. "Push an epi and charge to two hundred!"

Another one of the doctors cranked a dial on the toaster oven and pulled off two things that looked like clothes irons. The woman doctor who entered first pulled back the girls hospital gown and started CPR again. The doctor with the toaster oven put some strange goop on the irons and handed them over to the shouting doctor.

"Clear!" The shouting doctor shouted. Everyone backed away from the girl and he put the irons on her chest, and the girl jolted up, but nothing changed. He monitor was still flatlining.

"Push another round of epi." the first doctor said. She started doing CPR again.

"Charge to 300." the shouting doctor said, as he put more of the good on the irons. Ash started to feel dizzy. They couldn't lose this girl, she was supposed to help them save the world. They were doomed without her.

"Clear!" shouted the shouting doctor again. He put the irons on the girl's chest, and she jolted, but she was still flatlining.

"We're losing her," the first doctor shouted. She started CPR again. Ash wasn't sure she believed in a God, but right then she was praying that this girl would live. "Push another round of Epi!"  
"Charge to 500!" the shouting doctor ordered, as he put even more goop on the irons.

"She can't take 500!" the first doctor shouted at him.

"In 90 seconds she will be gone!" he shouted back. "Charge to 500!"

"It's charged." the doctor by the toaster oven reposted.

"Clear!" the shouting doctor shouted, but the first doctor continued CPR. She wasn't moving that time. "I said clear!"

"No!" the first doctor shouted. She continued CPR. The shouting doctor pushed her hands off of the girl, and put the irons to her chest again.

The girl jolted. She needed to survive. Ash needed her to live


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE: LACEY

She wasn't proud of how she handled herself in the store. Nine times out of ten, she is the smartest person in the room, but when she's called out all words and knowledge leave her mind completely. She hated being the center of attention, sure with her friends she could joke and speak freely, but if there is even one stranger, there is now way to get a word out of her. She was shy, but it didn't show too often, only when she was the being watched, or the center of attention.

She has spilled more feelings in the past 20 minutes then she knew she even had. She told her best friend, who was turning in to her best more-than-a-friend, that she was in love with him. It had felt right to say, but she was so shaken that it had come out, she didn't even know for certain she felt that way. But once she saw all the eyes on her she felt a primal impulse to run. Fight or Flight. For Lacey, the answer was always Flight.

She didn't know how long she had been running, she didn't know where she was running to, but she did know that she wasn't going to stop until she knew she felt safe. Her vision grew blurry, her face was dripping. She hadn't realized that she started crying, it was making her really dizzy. Running had caused he to lose her breath, and crying was making her not be able to take in any new air. She felt like she was going to pass out.

She finally stopped running and looked at her surrounding, to see where she was and to see if there was anywhere for her to sit down. She hadn't been to this part of Chicago in awhile, but at least it wasn't a bad part of town. She realized after a moment that she was somewhere in Streeterville, very close to the lake. She was in front of a church turned Art museum, with a tall and grand staircase leading up to the entrance. Despite the foot traffic, she sat on the stairs, close to the edge so she wouldn't get stepped on.

Wiping her eyes, she did her best to calm her breathing. Slowly, her dizziness passed, as did the tears, all she was left with was the embarrassment. She was embarrassed from what she said, how she said it, and that so many people had heard her say what she did in that way that she said it.

She needed a plan. She and Lenny had left the office before she had a chance to grab anything. She didn't have her phone, her purse, and no money. She figured her best bet was to go to St. Mark's, but she was all turned around.

"Are you alright young miss?" asked a old weather voice. Lacey looked up to see a short old man, hunched over a cane, staring at her through inch thick glasses. "Do you need a tissue?"

"I'm alright. Really." Lacey answered, but the only man was already ruffling through his pockets.

"I know I've got one somewhere." he mumbled. He lifted his fisherman's hat, presumably to scratch his head. Out from under his hat tumbled a packet of tissues, which fell onto the ground, narrowly missing a puddle. "Ah! There they are!" He waddled around the puddle, scooped up the packet, and sat down next to her. "Here you go," he said as he flourished a tissue out of the packet.

"Thank you," Lacey spoke quietly, as she took the tissue. She wiped her eyes, and dried her face.

"Now," He said before coughing into a handkerchief. "What's got you down, sweetheart."

"It's nothing really," Lacey said as she made a move to stand up and leave. "Thank you for the tissue, but-"

"Well, if it was nothing, it would put you to tears." The old man interrupted. He coughed before starting again, "I could guess what's wrong, but I don't' want to offend you, so you best tell me what's got you in tears."

"I got in a fight with a friend, that's all," she went to stand again, "Please excuse me-"

"You are not excused," He coughed again. "Sit back down, young lady, because I've got a story for you."

Lacey did what she was told, but she didn't want to stay, "Sir, I am interested, but-"

"Well then listen up, Lacey, because this is a story of a lifetime." He interrupted her again, but this time she kept going.

"But, sir I really need to get…. Moving…." She hadn't realized what he had said. "I didn't tell you my name."

"No, you didn't," He responded flatly. "I told it to you.

"What?" Lacey was getting very confused. She had been getting confused a lot today, and she didn't like it. She had never been this confused in her life.

"Just, Shush and listen to the story," he said with a cough. "All will make sense by the end. Once upon a time-"

"I'm sorry," Lacey interrupted, "But I really don't have time, could you please-"

"Make time for this," warned the old man, before coughing again. "You need to know this Lacey. Long before the modern countries you know of today existed, they were merely kingdoms that ruled over the known world. One of these kingdoms was Camelot."

"Yes," Lacey responded, "I know all about this. I've trace my family history all the way back to that time."

"I'm sure you have daughter of Lancelot," He coughed again. It was really freaking her out that he knew so much about her. "But there are certain people who have been hidden from you, because they were never recorded in the Battalion's Archive."

"How do you know about the Battalion?" she asked him. As his answer he pulled back his right sleeve to reveal a coat of arms tattoo, just like the ones members of the Battalion get when they join, to signify their connection to the round table. Lenny and Ash had the coat of arms of Sir Lionel, he was their great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great she forgot how many 'greats' grandfather. Lacey had the coat of arms of Sir Lancelot, and the old man sitting next to her he had the coat of arms of…..Sir Lancelot?

"Who are you?" Lacey asked, slightly terrified for the answer. Half of her family was nice, yet dead, and the other half… well she didn't like to talk about them.

"I'm Jordan Pierre." He looked at her very confused. "I'm your father's great uncle thrice removed." he shook his head, before coughing again. "You've never heard of me, have you?"

"No," she told him.

"That figures," he cursed. "Some days I wish your father had never met your mother….. But of course that would almost be worse."

"I disagree," she countered, not caring if she was interrupting him. "Had they never met, my father would still be alive!"

"And you wouldn't exist!" He raised his voice just barely, which made him sputter and cough. "That is why it would be worse. You don't know this yet, but your future, and the future of your friends has been foretold. I didn't know who the chosen were when I read the prophecy, but the minute I held you as a baby I knew. It was you."

"What was me?" she asked, she felt like he had skipped something. "Wait, you held me as a baby?"

"Yes Lacillia," he nodded, and coughed. She scooted away slightly, she didn't want to caught whatever plague he had. "I was there when you were born, that is when everything changed. That's when everything went wrong." He adjusted himself on the step, sitting further back, and he laid his cane on the ground. He was preparing for a long speech "Now listen Lacillia-"

"Don't call me that." she interrupted, seething. "Nobody, but my mother calls me that."

"Understood. Now, Lacey," he corrected. "The goal of the Battalion is to rescue the newest Merlin, teach them how to use their magic, and resurrect King Arthur so that he can make peace, unite the lands, and form Albion. Correct?"

"Correct." Lacey answered. To her, this sounded like the introductory presentation the Elders gave her and Lenny on their graduation, from intern to full time.

"But the Elders," he stopped quickly, and looked around, like he was making sure no one was listening in. Despite the fact that the place had been nearly deserted for over five minutes since they had sat down. "What they haven't told you is that they know exactly how everything will play out. They know who and when and where for this whole thing. I've seen it written down."

"What are you talking about?" She didn't know any of this and she hated not knowing. "I have read everything in the archive. Every accident report, member journal, psychiatric evaluation, and dismissal form that has ever come out of the Battalion. There isn't a mention , or even a hint of you. And I have a photographic memory, so I would remember."

"It's not in the archive!" he banged his cane on the ground, in anger. "They say they need us, but they kept this information from us, and we could have used it. We could be on the verge of Albion right now had they told us."

"The Elders sore to us on our first day that everything we would need to know to do our job, would be in the archive." Lacey countered. She couldn't wrap her head around the Elders lying to them like that.

"Well, what I'm sure you don't know," he started, but had to stop so that he could cough. "Is that there is a prophecy, about which Merlin completes the task, and about who finds them. The prophecy tells of five, one being the Merlin, one being the finder, two being knights, but the other…..." he stopped talking and shook his head.

"And you think I am one of these people?" She asked skeptically. Prophecies were common in the history of the Battalion, but all of the supposed found prophecies surrounding King Arthur were bogus. Except of course for the one that predicted his death.

"I know it." there was a glimmer in his eyes when he made his declaration, like despite how old and weathered his body was, this idea made him young and alive on the inside. Lacey actually almost hoped that this prophecy was real, just because of the hopeful look in his eyes.

But of course that would mean she would have to see her mother again.


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: HER

Usually when she would fall in her dreams, she would wake up in a cold sweat, but not this time. The hallway that Em was in with her Grandmother dissolved, crumbled, and dropped out from under her. Then she fell in the abyss below.

That terrible feeling that comes after waking up from a falling dream, she was feeling it all over and it wouldn't stop. There was nothing above her, below her or around her, and yet she felt closed in. She was suffocating, she was drowning in the darkness.

Cracks of colored light shattered around her, like lightning in a thunderstorm, but they were silent. All the colors she had ever seen where trying, and failing to break through the darkness to reach her. She tried to reach for the light, but she was frozen solid, she felt like a statue of herself. She felt like a rock thrown in the darkest coldest part of the ocean. She was could breath, she couldn't hear, she couldn't feel, she could only see. And what she saw terrified her to her core.

Images flashed in the darkness, and would only disappear when a crack of the strangest colored lightning would hit them. She saw her as a kid being terrorized by the bully that followed her for years. She couldn't hear her bully talking but she knew the words, the had followed her everywhere she went like a dark cloud.

You are worthless.

No one likes you.

You aren't good at anything, you are talentless.

You have no friends.

No one wants you around.

You should just kill yourself.

These words followed her like a stalker only she could see, and only she could hear. It was her most kept secret. She tried to tell herself everyday, that what was said wasn't true, but she could never be sure. She was afraid that if she told someone the words that were hurled at her, that they would tell her that those words were true. She was so afraid that they were true, she never said anything, she wore a mask of happiness everywhere she went.

She hollow, empty, and scared watching these thing happen to her again. If she could breath, she would be hyperventilating. She could feel her brain wanting to have a panic attack, and she knew what that felt like all too well. Hell, she had already had a panic attack that day on the train.

Panic attacks for Em would only come twice a month at most, but since she had gone to college they had gotten much more frequent. She had had over six, and she had only been at college for a little more than two months. She wasn't handling it well, but she was doing all she could.

She had only been diagnosed with Anxiety and PTSD that summer. What that meant for her she didn't know, all she did know was that how she was coping before, was actually making worse.

"You are a sleep." out loud she spoke. Her therapist had told her talking out loud made panic attacks easier to overcome. Hopefully that would apply in her dreams. "You are safe. Safe. safe. Safe. safe. Safe and asleep. Asleep and safe."

Her breathing had returned. It wasn't normal yet, but at least she felt air again.

"This is what you fear!" A booming male voice shouted at her. Echoing and reverberating off of the space around her, Em couldn't tell where the voice was coming from. She could only tell that it sounded strangely familiar. "You are pathetic, and weak!"

Em tried to yell back, but the voice was enveloping her, it was like the darkness surrounding her was its source. She let out a meager shriek, it was all she could handle while falling.

"I wish I could just kill you now." the voice was no longer shouting, but no, to Em, it felt closer. "But unfortunately I can't."

A large gust of wind undrafted Em. For a mere second she was flying back up, until she started heading down again. This time, instead of an endless fall, she hit a ground. Whether she was lying on dirt or a floor, Em couldn't tell. All she knew was that whatever she had landed was hard, and it had more than knocked the wind out of her. Her chest was on fire, like she was getting struck by lightning, over and over again.

Something Em didn't understand was happening to her body. She felt phantom hands all over her. She was faintly aware of footsteps, and the possibility that someone was approaching but she couldn't concentrate on the sound. She felt compressions on her chest in between every shock of lightning. Her arms and legs prickled, like she was getting a flu shot at the doctor's office, over, and over, and over again.

She was about to try and stand up, when a hand grabbed her by the back of the neck, and pulled her up, just like the hot scary guy had on the train.

"I don't know what you think you were doing in that train car," speak of the devil, it was the scary hot guy dangling her by her neck once more. "Just know that next time, I won't be taking it easy on you."

He dropped her, and Em groaned. How could a dream hurt so badly. Being dropped made the lightning in her chest start again. God, that hurt so bad. She groaned at the pain, but that only made it worse.

"You're disgusting," spat the scary hot guy, "when I kill you it will be slow." He grabbed her chin and forced her to look him in the eye, "And painful!"

He shoved her face down into the ground, and dissolved into the air. Em tried to breath, but her lungs burned, her chest was so hot she couldn't take it. No energy left in her body, she slumped onto her back. Her eyelids were so heavy, all she wanted to do was close them, sleep, and never wake up.

Above her she saw a pinprick of light, at what she assumed was the top of the hole in the ground that she had found herself in. The light grew, it calmed the darkness around her, and warmed up the air. The grew and grew, and when it was nearly touching her, she felt so happy, so at ease. She was at peace.

Wrapped in the warmest, kindest, and most gentle light she had ever experienced. Em found peace.

Her last thought, This must be Heaven.


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: LACEY

"Come along then." the old man picked up his cane and tapped it twice on the ground before standing, with a great deal of difficulty. "I have the answers you want, and I want to give them." He coughed, and by Lacey's count it was the thousandth time.

Lacey was unsure of what to do. She was pretty sure he was he relative. After all, not just anyone could get information about the Batalion and especially get a member tattoo. She had never heard of a Jordan Pierre, in the archive or in any of the family history books she had read. But she was curious, she always has been, and it would be her downfall.

After she stood up and dusted off the standard issue gray slacks the Battalion makes everyone wear, she caught up the old man, Jordan. Do I call him Jordan? She wondered, Should I call him Uncle? He did say he was my father's uncle, or something like that…..

"Where are we going?" Lacey tried to get his attention. He hadn't gotten too far in front of her, only about three paces or so. By Lacey's assumptions he was at least 80, and it showed in his gate. Surprisingly, he was able to keep a pretty fast and steady speed, Lacey had to actually put in an effort to keep up with him, and she was not expecting that.

"To get the answers you want," he coughed out, nearly tripping over his cane. While he continued to gulumpf forward he managed to choke out, "You first need to hear the entire story. From the true beginning to the full end."

"So tell me the story," she said. "Right here right now. Why do we need to-"

"This isn't the kind of story you can just hear to understand," Jordan interrupted. Lacey had decided to call him Jordan, if he was going to call her Lacey she could call him Jordan. He coughed before continuing, "This is the kind of story you need to see. You need to see it, to understand it. To believe in the truth."

He started to have a small coughing fit, probably from walking to fast. He spat something on the ground, and Lacey couldn't help but cringe at the fact that anyone would do something so disgusting. Jordan still shuffled along, it was almost like the coughing fit had made him want to move faster.

This is ridiculous. Lacey couldn't help being sceptical, after all it took her nearly her entire internship to believe what the Elders of the Battalion were talking about. The prophecy, if you could even call it that, that the Elders spoke of was so far fetched even Lenny had a hard time believing it, and he believed in Santa till he was 14. I'm pretty sure he still believes in the tooth fairy. But what Jordan is talking about is almost down right impossible. Right? I'm right!

"How much farther are we going, because I-" once again Lacey was interrupted, and it was really starting to tick her off.

"I know what you had going on today, and believe me this is more important." grumbling he looked over his shoulder at her, and coughed again. "I'm not trying to be rude, but there isn't a lot of time left, and you need to know this information before it is too late."

"Then why can't you just tell me-" For the third time in less than 5 minutes, Lacey got interrupted. If he did that again, she was going to have no choice but to smack him.

"We are here." Turning into a dimly lit alley, dimmer than it should have been for the time of day. The alley was a dead end, and nearly empty, despite the single garbage bag at the entrance. There wasn't even a doorway.

"We are….where now?" Her patience was running thin, and ability to be respectful to strangers was dying out. If Lenny was pulling this, she would have chewed him out for wasting time 12 minutes ago, but since Jordan is supposedly her elder relative so she had a slight extra amount of endurance, but not that much more.

"We are at the current source." Jordan's voice had a ring of wonder, respect, and awe, like he was entering hallowed ground. "Step lightly, we don't want to disrupt anything."

"O-kay." She was trying her best to play along. Apparently three was Lacey's magic number, because not only had she been interrupted by this guy three times, but this guy had also confused her for the third time in this moment. First with knowing her full name, second with this strange new prophecy, but this third time was the last. "You are making less and less sense every second you keep talking. YOu need to give me some answers now, or I am leaving."

He huffed, turned around, and marched them both out of the dead-end-alley. "Now listen here Lacey." he tried to continue but was cut off by his own coughing. "This is a sacred entrance way. You need to have a little more respect. I know you are used to being the smartest person in the room, and I know you have trouble dealing with people because of your-"

"Now you top right there!" She was angry, no furious. NO! she was fuking enraged. She didn't know she could feel anger this intense. "You know way too much about me for me to know nothing about you. I learned your name not 20 minutes ago. I have no reason to trust you whatsoever. That is just a fact, that isn't some symptom of… Just… you need to give me a reason to trust you, and explain what the hell is going on the the next three seconds or I walk."

"Fine," he coughed out. "I was there at your birth, because I was your father's godfather. When I held you in my arms, and looked in your eyes I knew you would be one of the knights in the prophecy. Your father would send we weekly letters about you until the day he died. Everything I know about you he told me. He would tell me how you were doing, and he told me when you were diagnosed with Autism."

"Stop right there!" This was an invasion of privacy. And it was an insult, because he was wrong. "I do not have Autism. I am just on the spectrum. That is all."

"I'm sorry," he apologized, and he really look sorry. "I didn't realize there was a difference."

"Well there is!" Lacey shouted. She hated how much it angered her to even talk about this. Her mother always made it sound like so terrible handicap, but on the inside she was no different than anyone else. "I have a small people, but enhanced intelligence as a return. In truth, I am almost no different than any other person, and I don't need to be treated differently." She was talking to the ground, and had been nearly the whole time they were together. Lenny and Ash were the only people she was comfortable looking in the eye.

"Alright. I'm sorry. I didn't know, and," he coughed again before continuing, "If I would have known, I wouldn't have said anything of the sort. Are you alright, Lacey?"

"It's fine." she straightened her shoulders, and cracked her neck. "I'm fine." She turned to face the alley way. "Now explain to me what that is." Her voice was hard, almost cold. She had lost all of her patience for the day. For her not uncle, for Lenny and Ash's family issues, for her own family issues, and for this mission. Her new goal was to get this day over with so she could go to bed.

"Alright, well," Jordan started before stopping because he needed to cough. "This is one of seven entrance ways to-" his coughing cut him off.

"Do you need water or… and inhaler or something?" She was really starting to question the lifespan of the guy. With every cough, it looked like a year had just dropped off of his life. And the guy had to be at least in his 80s, so that didn't leave him too much time.

"I will be fine," he cleared his throat before continuing, "Thank you for your concern though."

"Oh, I was just.." Lacey wasn't really concerned about him living, she was more concerned about the answers he had, and that they might die with him. It was only then that she realized how impersonal she got when she was angry.

"No, I know what you were just, but there was still a concern there." He winked at her, like they now shared some secret, and that meant they were family or something. "This is one of the seven entrances into the mist."

"The mist?" she chuckled. She tried to hold it in but it was no use. "That doesn't exist. All the recording of 'the mist' were proven to be fake-"

"Well it is real and we are about it walk right into it." he took off his cap, and banged his cane on the ground. "So how about you shut your trap for a second, and let me give you the answer you keep demanding but then not letting me give." He was a foot shorter than her, but the glare that he was giving, made Lacey's spine shiver. Lacey kept her mouth shut, and Jordan continued. "Magic comes out of the mist. It is what separates this world from the magical one, it's a barrier, but it is also where the magic in our world comes from. The Mist is a gateway, but it is also its own place. It's not exactly its own dimension, it is more of an interdimensional space. This alleyway." He turned and pointed into the dead end we had just left. "Was built on top of one of seven places in the world where there is a direct entrance into the mist."

"Okay. Let's just pretend for a second that I believe you," Lacey was about to drop some serious knowledge on this guy. The mist had been her favorite topic to research since she was, like, nine. She knew absolutely everything there was to know about its history, principles, uses, and abilities. "That is alley is an entrance to the mist. The Stonehenge portal was sealed in 860 CE, and all other subsequent portals were closed along with it."

"Didn't I tell you that the information given to you by the Battalion isn't always correct. The Elders keep secrets. They have a different agenda than what they've told you." He was nearly yelling, but not out of anger more out of passion and concern, if not frustration that Lacey didn't automatically believe in and trust him. Lacey couldn't help but think that Jordan was the one of those guys that wore tin-foil hats and blamed everything on aliens. " You can't just close all of the entrances into the mist, they can be closed, but there is more to it that that. The issue with trying to close the entrances is that once one entrance closes, another must open. Magic of this realm comes from the mist, and we don't have contact then we don't have magic," his voice dropped and his eyes darkened, "and you know what would happen if this world went from having loads of magic, to having no magic at all."

He was right. Lacey did know what would happen; she knew first hand how destructive the absence of magic could be. After that was what made her mother go insane, and it's what drove her to kill her husband, Lacey's father.


	15. Chapter 15

**********NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR************

This chapter is shorter, and I am sorry about that. I am now back at school, so there will probably be a lot of time in between chapters now, not that there wasn't already, but now there will be more. Oops, and I'm sorry. Also, Please feel free to comment. I wanna hear feedback, and what those that read this think about it. I can see views so I know someone is reading this. PLEASE I WANT TO HEAR YOUR OPINIONS! Thanks, and sorry again for the long wait between chapters and the shortness of this one.

******************ON TO THE STROY**************************

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: ASH

The monitor was still droning the flat line tone. The doctors in the room fell silent, all eyes were on the girl.

"Time," peeped up a voice from the back of the room. One of the doctors working on the odd toaster oven looking machine had spoken. "Someone call it."

"No." The woman doctor in the green scrubs answered as she started again on CPR.

"We've lost her," whispered the doctor who Ash had thought could do nothing but shout. "She's gone."

"No." The green scrubs wearing doctor said again. "She can't be gone. We had her! We just had her!"

We just had her is right, Ash thought. I can't believe she's gone. I thought she was safe, I thought I'd found her, and protected her. This was my mission. SHE was my mission, and I failed. I can't believe I failed…..

I failed.

The doctors were silent, all staring at the girl. They must hate failing there mission, to save lives, as much as Ash hated failing her mission, to protect this girl.

A few moments passed before the only doctor in the room who hadn't made a peep her entire time in the room spoke up. "Time of death 12:42." Her voice was barely more than a whisper, but in the silence of the room, she sounded like she was shouting.

The two doctors that brought the crash cart into the room packed up and rolled out, respectfully. The doctor in the green scrubs, the one that wouldn't stop CPR, she sat dejected by the girl's bed side.

"There wasn't anything you could have done." It was the voice of the doctor who was shouting far too much before, but in that moment, his voice was gentle, caring and almost soothing.

"She was fine." The woman doctor breathed out. "She didn't even need surgery… she had a leg injury, with an extreme loss of blood. I put her on an IV, and gave her antibiotics…. I did everything Dr. Knight said to do. How… How did this happen?" The disbelief and heartbreak in her voice rang throughout the room. "What did I do wrong Tony?"

"Gwen, listen," the man doctor, Tony, started, "You can do everything right. Follow every step, check off every box, do things textbook perfect, but in the end we can only stall death for so long."

"She's just a kid, Ton," Gwen's voice was breaking, and Ash thought she saw a tear fall down her cheek.

"Losing patients is hard." Tony sat down next to her, and put his arm around her shoulders. "It's even harder the younger they are."

"How do you get passed this?" Gwen shook off Tony' arm and stood to turn her face away from the dead girl in the room. "How could you possibly get over the fact that you killed someone?"

"Let's take a walk Gwen." Tony said, standing to meet her. "You're looking down a bad path right now, and I'm not going to let you walk down it. You can't blame yourself for deaths that aren't your fault. It'll keep you from saving the next patient. You are too good of a doctor to stop saving people just because you can't save them all."

"I need to call the morgue… oh God, and tell Dr. Knight." she held her head in her hands and her shoulders dropped.

"I'll handle it. I'll handle it all." Tony walked in front of her so she would face him. He lifted her chin with his one of his hands, and wiped off her face with the other. "Take a walk. Clear your head. Call your wife, and go see your kid. You'll feel better in a few hours."

"Thanks Tony." Gwen hugged him and then left the room.

Tony walked to the other side of the girl's bed and pulled the sheet up over her head. He shut down the monitors, and took out her IV tubes. He cleaned her up in the most somber and respectful manner Ash had ever seen anyone do anything.

Ash wanted so much to talk, or scream or cry over everything she just saw, but she couldn't. She was trapped inside her own mind. Disbelief and denial controlled her consciousness. Ash felt the tears falling across her face long before she realized she was crying. Her breathing got even more rugged than it already had been. She felt like she was spinning out of control, and her eyes lost focus. SHe was faintly aware of a high pitched beeping sound coming from one of the machines attached to her, but she couldn't focus on anything, because her vision was going black. The last thing she saw was Tony's face, but he was distorted and out of focus.

Then Ash found herself plummeting into the darkness.

She has had lucid dreams before, every night since the car crash. She knew the feeling of being in a lucid dream, like a daydream that is oddly vivid and yet foggy at the same time. The dream Ash had found herself in was similar, but not exactly the same. In this dream, there was no sense of fog, Ash was sure of every feeling, image, shape, and color.

And she was terrified. Not because the dream felt too real; she had a theory that the reason for the realness was probably because it was a vision of the future, or some sort of premonition. Ash was used to dreams like that, it's why she was chosen to be a finder. No, she was terrified because this dream, the dream the felt more real than any lucid dream, more real than any vision she had ever had…. Couldn't possibly be real.

What she saw made no sense. To Ash, it looked like she was walking in space. she felt a floor under her feet, but when she looked down a she saw was darkness speckled with stars, as far she could see, and each star had a strange purple haze around them.

Ash turned around, looking in all directions, for something, anything, that would tell her what to do, or what she was supposed to learn from this dream, but there was nothing. Just the darkness…...and the stars.


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: LENNY

Lenny had perfected the art of Planal Jumps. Now, he usually doesn't like to toot his own horn, but he considered himself the best in the Battalion. Lenny knew the best times to jump, how to navigate the Astral Plane, where all the shortcuts were, and he always had the best technique when landing.

But this Jump was odd. It was the afternoon, which wasn't the best time for Jumps, but it wasn't like it was 1:42am or anything. The place wasn't optimal either, but it was easily doable with enough preparation. Unfortunately Lenny hadn't had the chance to prepare. This was a very hasty Jump, and the fact that he wasn't in a calm mind set was going to affect this Jump as well.

He didn't want to say anything to Lacey earlier, but when he had cast the spell to Jump them to Ash, he was so worried for his twin, that he was the reason they landed in the wrong spot. His mind was racing, and he couldn't focus on anything but Ash.

The Astral space reflected Lenny's thoughts and feelings at the moment. Which meant that the space was fragments and off kilter. There were usually images of places and times, which with practice could be navigated to complete a successful jump. In this Jump however, Lenny found that the images had fractured into shards that were as sharp as glass. Lenny knew this because they were whipping around him at alarmingly high speeds, and would occasionally cut him. It was uncomfortable to say the least.

Lenny knew that Ash had sent this Jump to him, and because of that he had no control of when he would be allowed to land. He did his best to calm the images, by calming his own mind, but there was only so much he could do.

"Ash, what's happening to you?" mumbled Lenny, as he shield his face from another round of shards flying at him. "Ash, I'm coming. Let me help you."

As much as he hated it, Lenny knew all he could do was wait. Ash was the one who cast the Jump spell, so Ash had to be the one to let him land. Lenny was not the most patient person, in fact he was probably one of the most impatient people. He waited for, what to him felt like, maybe three hours. Granted, he knew he was probably wrong, but that was how it felt for him. Maybe he wouldn't have minded waiting some much if he wasn't getting hit with image shards every two minutes.

"Ash!" he shouted for what felt like the 7,000th time. "Where are you? What's going on? Ash!"

All Lenny knew was that Ash was in the hospital, and he couldn't get to him-er her. He was still adjusting. Lenny was having unfortunate flashbacks of the last time Ash was in the hospital and he couldn't get there, and Lenny couldn't let this time end as horribly as last time. Their parents died last time, nothing like that would ever happen again if Lenny had anything to say about it.

The Astral Plane was in too large of a flux state to be navigated, but Lenny tried. He tried running, jumping, crawling, flying, climbing… He tried everything he could think of to get around. He told himself he was making progress, but if he was being honest he didn't know.

After what felt like hours, Lenny finally thought he saw a shift in the Astral Plane. Now he was hoping this was a good shift, but there was always a chance, even though it was slim, that the Astral Plane was about to eat him. Lenny REALLY hoped that was wasn't the case.

The images shards stopped swirling, and collected themselves to form complete images, still shattered images, but images nonetheless. He recognized some places; the office at the battalion, Uncle Al's living room, Lacey's front door, his and Ash's shared childhood home, all places he and Ash had jumped together.

As the Astral Plane got more solid, Lenny could see that it was taking the form of a hallway, and the images seemed to hang on the wall like tapestries. He recognized the hallway, it was the same hallway in the castle of house that his grandparents owned, for reasons that still baffle him. He hadn't seen the hall in person since his parents were alive, but he laid eyes on it whenever he would help Ash practice Jumps. Ash found Jumping easier when he imagined navigating the Astral Plane as a hallway, and this was the longest hallway either of them had ever been in.

Finally being able to see some form a ground, Lenny maneuvered gingerly down the hallway, for there was still a chance that the Astral Plane could shatter back into chaos.

"Ash?" Lenny's voice was a harsh whisper. "Ash?" He dared to make his voice louder. He didn't know what could upset this state of calm the Astral Plane was in.

"Where are you? Can you hear me?" Lenny raised his voice slowly, and sped up his pace down the hall.

The further down the hall that Lenny got, the more he found that the images on the walls were growing more and more foreign. Places he had never seen, and people he had never met were getting slowing incorporated into the images. At first Lenny figured that these were merely people and place Ash had been without him, but as he traveled further down the hall he began to realize that some of the images Ash could have never seen. That was because he knew for certain no one had ever seen them, at least not in his lifetime.

The images started to go back in time, and Lenny knew from trying that Planal Jumps could not time travel. Lenny saw images that he figured must have been taken from the twenties, and the early 1900, but then he also saw images that either came from the medieval times, or an incredible accurate Renaissance Fair. There were images of knights, and flappers, and spies, and debutants, and 1,000 other things Lenny couldn't place.

He eventually got to the end of the Hallway and rounded a corner, just in time to see a girl with long dark hair and purple jeans fall through a hole in the floor. "Hey!" Lenny screamed out as she fell. He rushed to were she was, and tried to catch her, but he wasn't fast enough.

"Are you alright?" He shouted down into the hole. "Can you hear me?" Lenny waited a few moments, but he didn't hear an answer. He didn't even hear her hit the bottom. Maybe this is a bottomless pit, he thought, I've heard of those popping up in the Astral Plane, especially if the the travel isn't trained properly.

"Is anyone else around?" He shouted down the Hallways. This was the first person he had seen since he entered, she wasn't Ash, but at least this was a start. "Lady, I don't know if you can hear me," Lenny shouted back down into the hole, "But I going to find a way to get you out! Okay, so just sit tight!"

How am I going to get her up here? He thought to himself, but then he remembered on of his first lessons on manipulating the Astral Plane. There was a way to create objects, so he looked around for something concrete. Not necessarily made of actual concrete, but Lenny needed something that was already existent in the Astral Plane, something that he could physically touch.

He figured his best bet was to make some rope, it was simple enough for him to create, and just useful enough to possibly even work. He went over to the closest image on the hallway wall. Looking for anything he could physical touch, a piece of image shard, or anything, Lenny noticed what was in the picture. Two figures one male and one female, dressed like they were straight out of the 20s. The woman, who was dressed like a classic flapper, was punching the guy in the face. If Lenny wasn't so shocked, he probably would have marveled about the early display of feminism shown in the picture. But he didn't because of who the woman was punching.

Lenny had never seen this picture or the woman before, ever, but he had seen the man. Lenny hated that man with a passion, and he was hoping he would never have to see that scoundrels face ever again. That man was the reason his parents were dead.

As much as Lenny wanted to rip that image of the wall and tear that man's essence into piece, he needed to find a way to get to the girl that fell. He needed to know why she was here and what she knew about Ash.

Lenny tried to make physical contact with the image, but his hand slipped right through. Despite how solid everything looked in the Astral Plane, there was barely anything that was actually as such. Lenny slowly moved down the hall, looking and trying to make contact with anything and everything he saw in his path, but nothing stuck.

"Come on…...come on….." Lenny whispered to himself. He needed something to work, "something has to be real here." Without realising he was doing it, Lenny found that he was almost praying. He didn't grow up religious, sure he knew that there were some christianity ties to the old stories of Camelot and King Arthur, but he wasn't raised with it, and no one in the Battation ever really spoke of religion. He guessed the most figured that God, if there was one had let them down. Many of Camelot's prophets didn't come to a full completion, and since this old prophets were considered to come from God at the time, maybe they decided to give up.

Lenny wasn't sure of anything either way, but he knew in this moment that if there was a God, he was really hoping that He would help them.

"Please." His voice came out as a low whisper, barely audible, but Lenny put all of his hopes into that one word.

Just after he spoke, almost by magic, he saw something on the ground. He didn't notice it at first, but as he studied the ground he saw what looked like a piece of paper, but something about it was familiar. Upon closer investigation he realized why is was initially so familiar.

It was the train ticket. The one that he and Lacey enchanted to find the reincarnated Merlin. Stooping down to pick it up, he wondered how it got there. He had transported the ticket through the Astral Plane, but he was sure that the Merlin had received it. The alarm went on in the office after all. Was that girl….. The Merlin.

Now he really needed to get her out of there, if there was the smallest chance that that girl was the Merlin, he needed to save her. Gingerly, Lenny picked up the ticket, and turned it over in his hands. It was water-logged and some of the ink had run. It was silly but in that moment he was upset that it had gotten damaged, after all the time Lacey and he had spent creating it, and now he had to destroy it.

"Well here goes nothing," Lenny muttered on, "Haven't done this since I was a tween so this better work."

Closing his eyes, Lenny concentrated on the ticket. He felt for every krinkle, every edge, and felt down to every fiber that held it all together. He imageded the fibers in the paper separating from each other, and floating in the space in front of him. He felt something happen on his fingertips, but he could break concentration, less the transformation spell would fail.

He shifted his concentration slightly, and focused on just one fiber. He willed the fiber to elongate,and strengthen. He imaged the elongated fiber joining the rest of the fibers and forcing them all to elongate and strengthen. In his mind, Lenny then saw the fibers swirling together and braiding themselves into a long and thick rope.

Slowly, Lenny took a breath, and said the words of the charm that would hopefully make this transformation a reality. "viveste formulario. Irheserforte."

Tentatively, Lenny opened his eyes, and to his relief he found that he was holling the end of an incredibly long rope that stretched down the hallway. He gasped then breathed out a small laugh, he hadn't realized he was holding his breath. He crouched down and began collecting the rope into a pile. Coiling the, what he assumed was at least a twenty foot long, rope around his right arm, Lenny was trying to come up with a way that he could pull the girl out.

Settling on a tying the rope around his waist before dropping down the hole, Lenny finished coiling the rope, and stood up to find himself facing the most famous painting in Battalion history, The Original Dragon Battle. He was staring down the face of the legend that started everything.

"The Purple and Green Dragons are the essence of magic in this realm." These words were spoken to Lenny's internship class at orientation. "The Green Dragon is the representation of dark magic, feeding off light and hope to give it power, destroying them both in the process. The Purple Dragon is the representation of light magic, creating hope and fueled by love." He totally laughed at that line. Lenny remembers he poked Ash with his elbow, and they had a silent laugh together, and the look Lacey shot at the two of them was icy. They shut up after that.

"Though these dragons never truly existed, what they represent is very real and the battle they fight is also very real. It is our battle." The tone of the speech shifted at this point, Lenny remembers feeling the gravity in the Elder's words, and strangely he felt a sense of pride. "We are on the side of the purple dragon, the side of light, the side of love, and the side of Merlin."

Looking back, Lenny should have realized why the Astral Plane wasn't operating as usual, but in that moment he was too caught up in worry over Ash, confusion about the girl, and heartache over Lacey, that he couldn't think about anything else. Hefting the heavy length of rope into his arms, Lenny made his way back to the hole in floor that the girl fell through.

"Hey, Lady!" Lenny shouted down the hole, putting the bulk of rope on the ground. "Can you hear me?" No answer. "I've got a rope that I'm going to throw down to you,okay?" Lenny still couldn't hear an answer. Maybe she was too far down to hear, or maybe the fall rendered her unconscious.

How the hell I am going to reach her with this rope if she can't even hear me? He thought. Lenny Knew that it was a half-assed plan at best, but it was the only thing he could come up with. He rolled the rope around between his palms, and looked back at closest image on the wall, the one with the woman from the twenties and…..that man.

"This is a bad idea, but I guess….." He was talking to himself, but his idea was so stupid he thought if he said it out loud then maybe he would realize how stupid it truly was. "Nope. I guess this is my only plan."

Lenny went back over to the image on the wall, not looking directly at it, because even though that man's face was getting punched, he still couldn't stand to look at it without getting angry. Lenny felt around on the wall and on the floor for something he could tie the rope to. He felt like it took him over twenty minutes, but eventually he found a column in the hallway that was physical enough that the rope wouldn't pass right through it.

After he tied the rope as tightly around the column as he could, and walked…..ran the rope back to the hole. "Well that's five feet wasted. This better work."

Even though the Astral Plane was outside of time and space, there was still a possibility that anyone could die there. Lenny wrapped the rope around his back, and turned away from the hole.

"OKay, Lady," Lenny shouted down into the hole, "I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm coming down to get you!"

Lenny remembered watching mountain climbers grappling down cliff sides, but he wasn't sure how they did it, he only remembered them holding the ropes behind their backs.

"Well," he spoke to himself, "here goes nothing."

Lenny gripped the rope as tightly as he could, before he jumped down into the dark abyss.


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: HER

The white light encapsulated her. She felt warm and calm, and strangely enough at peace. If this wasn't heaven she didn't know what was. The pain she felt from the most current attack, and the dull aches from the first attack on the train were all gone. She felt no pain, it was like that first day of being healthy after being sick for a long time, she forgotten how great it felt to not be in pain.

She looked around herself. She was still lying on the ground, but she felt comfortable. The darkness was gone, and so was the lightning. The ground she was lying on was white, and to her it looked as though everything around her was the same as the white ground. It was like she was in one of those nothing white spaces that are shown in TV and movies to denote some sort of limbo.

She spent maybe a moment or two just lying on the ground taking in the sensations of her, presumably, healed body. Breathing in air, and it didn't make her lungs burn, and she wanted to savour that for a moment. Slowly and cautiously, she raised her head, then her shoulders, and she sat up. Curling her legs underneath herself, she got up to her knees.

"Hello?" she spoke cautiously, not sure how her own voice would sound after the day she had. Not as expected, her tone was clear, she wasn't raspy nor did her voice crack.

She didn't expect a response, for she was nearly positive she as alone. But much to her surprise a soft male voice answered her.

"Hello." The voice said. It was all the voice said. She couldn't figure out what direction the voice was coming from, and that scared her.

Still on the ground, Em looked all around for some clue of another person there with her. But she still saw nothing. Moments ago she felt as though she was dying, it felt strange to her to try and stand, but much to her amazement getting to her feet was one of the easiest things she had ever done.

"Well, crap," she breathed out, looking down at her feet, "I actually am dead aren't I?"

"No." It was the male voice again, but this time it sounded scarily close. "You are not dead." The voice paused. Em looked in all directions, but she still saw nothing. "Not technically at least."

"What does that mean?" she asked tentatively, "And where are you?" her voice was small, and shaking from a slight amount of fear, but it didn't crack.

"In this place," the voice answered her, "I am everywhere." Well, Em hated that answer, but before she could say anything the ground five feet in from of her grew fog. The fog build up to the size of a person. It shimmered, then flashed, and within a second the fog was gone leaving in its place a man. "But if it will help you understand I can be right here."

He wasn't particular tall, or attractive, he had one of those faces. The kind that you see in every crowd, he would blend in wherever he went. That is, except for his choice in clothes. He had brown leather boots that went up to his mid-shin, and his black pants were tucked into the top. He was also wearing a puff light blue shirt, that reminded Em of a pirate, and ontop of all of that he was wearing a floor-length heavy purple clock that could only be made out of velvet.

For some strange reason, Em thought that she had met this man before, but maybe it was because he had one of those faces. Even with that in mind, she could brush off the thought that she had seen him before. Even his clothes, though odd, seemed familiar to her. Especially the cloak, Em knew she had seen it before, but where…

"You…. were you….. In one of those pictures?" Em couldn't remember every image in her strange dream with her Gran, but she remembered that cloak was in one of them.

The man's expression change, first to confusion, then to humour. "You were in the Hall of History before, weren't you?" Em didn't answer, but she was pretty sure her facial expression told him that she had no idea what he was talking about. "Stone hallway with loads of portraits everywhere, does this ring a bell?"

"Yeah," answered Em. She felt like should be afraid, she was alone with a stranger, after getting attack twice in one day. But for reasons unknown to her, she felt like she could trust this guy, like he wasn't really a stranger. "I was in a place like that, but the ground collapsed, and I found myself here."

"You must be wondering why your here, and what this place is. Well, you see-" Em interrupted him.

"No. Well, yes I'm wondering all those things, but the thing most pressing on my mind, is who are you?" Em realized she was being rude, but after that day she's had, she felt justified in being standoffish.

"Ah!" the man exclaimed. Em couldn't help but picture this guy as the strange professor she heard everyone warning her about welcome week, the kind that gets really excited about the lectures, and starts talking really fast, and complicates everything, until the whole class is left in the dust. But then he had this smile, that was sort of sad, almost like he was remembering someone who died.

"The name I was given when I was born, was Emrys." she tried to place the name, but couldn't. For a moment, his eyes shimmered, changing from the same icy blue of her eyes, to an almost gold color, then back to blue. "My name is in a language that is long dead and forgotten. Perhaps you will recognize my english name. Merlin."

"What?" She couldn't have heard him right. "Merlin? Like the wizard."

"Warlock technically, but yes the one you are thinking of." He smiled, like this was so exciting for him to be telling her this. "I've never met any of those that carry on my title, beside you that is."

"Um….." she wanted to say something, ask anything but she didn't know what to say, it was just too ridiculous. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again.

His smile faltered, turning to a frown. "Have you not been told?" he looked so concerned, which confused her more. Did this have something to do with what her grandmother was talking about? "Tell you what, since you've had no proper introduction, let's discuss this over tea. I will tell you as much as I know and you can ask any questions you'd like. How does that sound?"

"Fine…. I suppose, but how-oh jeez!" Em's surroundings shifted, she felt gusts of wind swirl around her, thrashing against her from all directions. She felt like she was falling, eyt she could still feel the ground under her feet. Colors started to swirl into the stark whiteness that was her surroundings. New smells of forest trees and fresh flowers came to her, and she only then realised she hadn't been able to smell before. Maybe this wasn't a dream after all?

It was probably just a few seconds, but to Em it felt more like a few minutes. It was like time had slowed down, she felt like she was in a slow motion scene of an action movie. The colors began to form shapes, and the shapes collected together to become objects. After a moment of two, Em found herself in quaint old-timey looking cottage. The room she was in had a dirt floor, with a table and four chairs. On the table was a tea set with four place setting. Em could see two other entrances to other parts of the cottage, but their doorways were closed.

Merlin…...Emrys?...The guy was sitting on one side of the table, "Please take a seat." he motioned to the chair across from him.

Cautiously, Emm sat in the chair he motioned to. "What was that? And Where are we?"

"This was my home, outside the borders of CAmelot." His eyes shimmered, with a sort of bittersweet joy and sadness.

"Camelot. That's not a real place." Em wasn't an expert on the arthurian legends in anyway, but she did know that there was not any space of land that was historical referred to as Camelot.

"It was a real place, but it's gone now." The sadness returned to his eyes. "Camelot fell not too long after Arthur's death. Feel quite literally, into the sea. That's why no one's been able to find it."

"Wait. Are you trying to tell me that Camelot did a full Atlantis and fell into the sea? What drugs did that doctor give me?" Em was convinced this was a lucid dream, and at this point she was considering just rolling with it.

"In some ways, yes. The Atlantis myth actually came about because of what happened to Camelot." Emrys smiled, like he had finally gotten through to her. Em was still not convinced.

"Camelot is older than Atlantis? That's not what I learned." Em countered.

"Yes and no." He shifted in his chair, like he was looking for the right words to say. "You see what complicated about that is-"

Merlin was cut off, because some guy fell through the thatched roofing above their head. This guys landed in one of the empty chairs, followed by a long rope the thumped down on top of him.

Em was rightfully shocked and shook, but Merlin seemed unfazed, more annoyed at being cut off than anything else. "Well, it's about time. You two were supposed to be together when I met you."

"What?" The guy shook off the rope and looked up at Em and Merlin, and that's when Em saw his familiar face. "What are you-"

"Ash! You're okay!" Em was so relieved to see a friendly face after her strange day.

"I'm not Ash, I'm - wait you've seen my brother? Is he okay?" The guys' eyes perked up, and it was then that Em saw the difference between this guy and Ash. Ash's eyes were a far brighter green, and had slightly tanner skin.

"I- yeah I was on the train with him. We were taken to a hospital, but Ash was put into surgery. I haven't seen him since the train, but I was told he was doing well." Em felt bad she didn't know more. The hopeful look on this guys' face made her want to tell him everything was going to be fine, but the truth was she didn't know.

"Oh, okay. Okay. He's going to be fine, he's gotta be," the guys whispered the end, like he was saying it to himself. "Sorry, I'm Lenny. Ash is my twin, and I've been looking for him, and you two are…. Holy hickory, your Merlin!"

Em guess this guy, Lenny, hadn't really paid Merlin too much attention at first. He was probably too concentrated on learning about Ash. Merlin didn't seem to care that he wasn't seen, but he looked rather confused, darting his eyes between looking at Lenny and Em.

"You two don't know each other? Well this is unprecedented." Emrys looked confused, perhaps even slightly upset, though Em had only just met him so she could be wrong.

"Nope, never met. But we would have, had you and Ash not been in an accident." Lenny turned his attention from Merlin to Em. "YOu were the one that found the train ticket, right?"

"Yeah, I found a train ticket, and tried to return it. What does that have to do with-" Lenny cut her off.

"We planted the ticket. Charmed it so only you would see it, so we could find you. Ash was supposed to meet you on the train and take you to our HQ, but that didn't happen." Lenny looked upset, perhaps even guilty, but Em was unsure, after all she'd known him less than she'd known Merlin.

"Charmed? As in magic? What the hell? I knew my imagination was active, but what?" Em wasn't feeling the crazy of her dream anymore. "This is why I should never do drugs. Can I wake up now?"

"Wake up?" Merlin laughed. "I'm sorry Emerald, but this is not a dream."

Em opened her mouth to question the statement, but Lenny jumped in before she could get any form of sound out. "This is the Astral Plane. An energy dimension that manifests within and between objects, people, and places."

"Leonard is correct." Merlin responded. "Us and our surroundings are merely a physical manifestation of our spirits, or souls if you will. Created by our memories and our thoughts"

"But, what is this place exactly?" Lenny asked. "I know it isn't from any of my memories."

"I've never seen it either." Em finally found her voice again. This was too surreal for her, it was like something out of a book, not real life. Even though they told her she wasn't asleep, she was still hoping she was going to wake up.

"Unfortunately," Merlin answered, "I can't tell you too much just yet. We are still waiting on one more person."

At that moment, almost like clockwork, another person dropped from the ceiling. Em found herself having the sense of deja vu as she looked at the familiar face that fell.


	18. Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: ASH

Ash had never spent too much time in the Astral Plane. She wasn't very good at navigating it, and nine times out of ten, if she went there by herself, she got lost. Ash wasn't sure if the space-scape that she found herself in was the Astral Plane, but she had no other idea of what it could be. She hoped it was the Astral Plane, because then someone might find her, but if it wasn't…...well she chose not to think about that.

Popular wisdom says, when your lost its best to stay where you are, then it's easier for people to find you. So, that is what Ash tried…...for like two minutes. Ash didn't exactly trust that she was walking on solid ground, but it felt solid, so, hesitantly, she started to walk.

Ash felt her legs moving and she felt her muscles getting tired, but to her it still looked like she was in the same place. None of the stars, or what she assumed were stars, looked like they were getting any closer or any further away. There were no constellations that Ash could recognize. She wasn't an expert on stars, but she could find both the big and little dipper, quite quickly, as well as all of the star signs of the zodiac. However Ash couldn't even see a hint of any of these constellations.

She didn't know how long she was walking, if she was going anywhere, if she was making any progress, or if this was even real, but Ash kept on walking until she passed out.

Ash wondered what a dreamless sleep was like. It was so rare for her to have a full night's sleep without at some sort of dream, or nightmare really. Dreams of the future are one of the worst things in the world, according to Ash. Ash is the only person she is aware of the actually hates sleep, and it's for that exact reason.

At first she wasn't even sure she was dreaming, as she was still in the same space surrounded by stars, but it was the fact that she was floating that told her this was a dream. Well the floating, and the fact that she was surrounded by schools of fish.

Ash had never seen so many fish, not in any zoo or aquarium. There were so many different shapes, sizes and colors of fish, that she couldn't even name half of them. Ash didn't feel water surrounding her, another sign of a dream. This was by far the strangest dream Ash had ever had.

Most of her dreams were usually nightmares or predictions of the future. This dream had none of that. At least it didn't feel like it did.

"At least I knew which way was up when I was walking," she said to herself.

"Up is where ever you choose it to be." A disembodied voice echoed. It wouldn't have been as creepy to Ash, had the voice not been that of a child. The creepiest part of the voice, was that is sounded like a few children saying the same thing at once.

Ash looked in all directions, but couldn't figure out where the voice was coming from. Fish were swimming all around her, in schools so thick she could barely see anything five feet in front of her, except for the fish of course. Maybe she was imagining the voice.

"You need to keep moving, or you'll drown." It was the voice again. Ash still couldn't figure out where it was coming from, it sounded like it was coming from everywhere.

"Who's there?" Ash asked. She felt like she was shouting, but her sound was swallowed up by the fish. To her ears, it sounded like less than a whisper.

Unfortunately, Ash found out too late that talking was a mistake. And a quick way drown. True, Ash felt no water around her, but she definitely felt water go down her throat. Her body force her to cough and gasp, but that only made her swallow more water. Ash tried to force out the water, but to no avail. With each failed attempt, Ash began to see black spots clouding her vision.

"That won't help." It was the echoey children's voices again, but this time it sounded louder. "You need to keep swimming Ashton. It's the only way to dispel the water."

Ash could barely see. Her vision was blurry, and her muscles felt weak and tired from the lack of oxygen, but she did her best. She tried to swim up, or at least where she thought was up. She kicked as hard as she could, and tried to claw her way through the schools of fish. The further up she swam, the more she found she could see. He lungs filled with air, but yet she hadn't taken a breath.

"There now, you see." the strange voices again, "You're breathing again aren't you."

Ash opened her mouth, but was too afraid she'd start drowning again if she talked, so after a moment, she just shut her mouth. What am I supposed to do? Just keep swimming forever, Ash thought.

"Not forever." The voices were far louder than they ever had been, it was almost like they were in her head. "Just until you find the way out."

Can you hear my thoughts? Ash was as terrified by the answer as she was excited by the idea.

"Yes, we can." The voices answered. The sound was definitely coming from outside of Ash's mind, yet she still couldn't figure out a direction. "You need to find your way out, Ashley."

Ash stopped swimming. I haven't told anyone I want to be called Ashley, how the hell do you know?

"Because we are you." The voices were further away now, but Ash didn't try to pinpoint the source, for the voices just turned her brain to goo. "Keep swimming or you'll drown."

Ash started kicking, and maneuvering around the fish again, but far more hesitantly. The idea that these strange voices were somehow also her didn't make sense, and she had a difficult time trusting it, but it still make a dense pit in her stomach. If you're me, then what's my brother's name?

"Your brother's name is Leonard Thomas Leoncri. Lenny for short. He is your older and identical twin brother," answered the voices. "You need to locate an exit from this place."

Ash continued to swim around. She looked for anything that might indicate an exit, or something different, but all she could see was brightly colored fish. Just fish. Everywhere. If your me, who is my best friend?

"Your best friend is Lacilia Sabina Pinnard, Lacey for short. She is the short spunky genius that hasn't stopped talking since you met her when you we five," answered the voice, and it was correct once again. "You can't stay here much longer. You're need elsewhere."

Ash was starting to get annoyed by these voices. If you know where I'm supposed to go and where the exit is, why don't you just tell me? The voices lack of help was making Ash question if they were what they said they were.

"I can't tell you things you don't know, because you don't know them yet, and I am you." While the voices were talking, it sounded as though they were collecting together into one. The echo was fading and with that the youth in the voice faded also.

A beam of light shot out from behind the school of fish that Ash was looking at. The light made the fish scatter away. Ash thought it best to follow the fishes' lead and swim away as well, but when she turned to follow, she saw that that fish had created a sort of wall, leaving her to be in the direct path of whatever was creating that beam of light. Ash couldn't tell what it was, whenever she looked she was nearly blinded, but she was hoping she wasn't going to get hit by a ship. She didn't believe in the old wives tale that when you die in your sleep you die in real life, but she wasn't willing to test it. Ash tried to weasel into the wall of fish, but they would not let her through.

"You don't need to be afraid Ash," it was the voice again, now just one. It was higher in pitch, possibly female, Ash didn't want to assume. It sounded older than before, definitely not a child like she had thought before. Since the echo was also gone, Ash was able to pinpoint the location, and it was coming from directly in front of her. The voice was coming directly out of the light.


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN: LACEY

"So you want to take me into the mist?" Lacey asked Jordan. She was still didn't fully trust this old man in front of her, but she was too curious about the information he had to back away.

"Not exactly," he turned to her and rested both hand on the top of his cane. "I will be taking you into the mist, but only for a brief second. The mist is our gateway to the land of magic, and thus to the entrance of Avalon."

"Avalon?" she couldn't have heard him right. Lacey worked with myths, legends, and magic on a daily basis, but the thought of going to Avalon was preposterous. "Are you planning on killing us to get there?"

The Battalion didn't have any additional information on Avalon besides anything else that had been written in the myths. Usually, there would be a lost journal or some sort of destroyed text that held more information than is just in the stories that had been passed down through the ages. So the only thing Lacey knew for certain about Avalon was that it was were the spirits of the strong and powerful stay after they had passed.

"My word, you know nothing." Jordan sighed. He tapped his cane thrice on the ground, turned back to the alley and said, "come along. Be silent and touch nothing. This is a special process, don't mess it up." he walked to the entrance way on the alley, looked over his shoulder, looked lacey dead in the eye and cautioned, "follow my steps exactly, don't deviate, and don't make a sound."

Jordan took a deep breath, then walked four paces into the alley way. Lacey was good following directions, and she did exactly as he did. After his four paces he took two steps to the right, and Lacey did the same. Jordan then walked briskly towards the back wall, and didn't stop until his nose was less than an inch away. Lacey copied him, but she felt ridiculous doing it. Jordan then picked up his cane, and with the handle he tapped a certain pattern on the bricks, it looked to Lacey like he was either tapping out a cross or the symbol of life. Lacey thought she had it down enough to tap it out as well, but Jordan, put his can in between her and the wall. He put a finger to his mouth and pointed at the wall.

When Lacey looked back at the wall, she didn't see the wall. The wall was gone, just gone, and in its place was nothing. She turned to Jordan and there was nothing behind him either. Lacey looked all around them, she turned 360 degrees, and there was nothing. There wasn't even a ground under their feet. Everything was dark, but yet she could still see. She didn't stop turning, whipping her head in all directions. She didn't stop moving until she felt a hand on her wrist.

She snapped her eyes to the hand, and was relieved to see that it was attached to Jordan. He then held up his other hand in a gesture that she thought meant 'stop' and she did. She calmed down and stood still. Jordan then held a finger to his lips before raising his cane and banging it once against the ground.

Lacey felt a lurch thought out her entire body. It felt like that moment a rollercoaster right after the first drop. Like she had left her mind and her guts behind her, and her body was being dragged forward at a radical speed. She did her best to stay still as she was told, but she felt sick. Nothing in their surroundings changed. She still saw nothing. She did her best to breath, but after a minute or two of the lurching and indeterminate speed she just couldn't take it anymore.

Lacey doubled over and threw up. Her vision was full of spots, and was blurry as all hell. She couldn't breathe right. Air was coming in all ragged, she could barely get a full gulp of oxygen. She felt her limbs shaking, and her stomach flipped again. She probably would have worried about throwing up again, but before she even had the chance, she passed out.

When ever Lacey was asleep, she always had the same dream. The kitchen at her childhood home. She would be sitting, eating a peanut butter sandwich. She would watch her mother stir a stock pot for dinner. They would joke and laugh, until her father came into the room through the front door. Her mother would scold him for not wearing sunblock. He'd say he didn't need any, and then they would laugh and then they would kiss. This is when Lacey would make herself known to her parents. She would tell them that they were brig gross, before her parents scooped her up into their arms and kissed her cheeks.

This wasn't just a dream to Lacey. It was a memory. A diluted one, but one based on her life nonetheless. It was the last day her family was whole. The day before her mom snapped. The day before her dad died. The day before she had to move into the house of the boy she had a crush on. It was the last day of her childhood. The day before she had to grow up.

The dream always ended the same. With her parents putting her down, and her dad taking one of her hands and her mother taking the other. They walked hand in hand out of the kitchen and into the family room to play games. They'd play all afternoon, and would sit down to dinner before her father carried her into her bedroom to tucked her in for the night. He'd kiss her on the forehead before saying the last words she'd ever hear her father say. This moment was always the same in her dream as it was in reality.

Her father kneeled down so that he was at her eye level, and wrapped his big dark hands around her tiny slightly lighter ones. She remembered that his gaze was as warm as his hands. He leaned close and quietly sang to her like he did every night, "the robins fly far above the treetops, they see the whole world below. They dance in the sky and to the world they sing this song: light give us life and in life we find love. Love is our heartbeat and it keeps us moving. Love is what we need when the world goes dark,. In love we find our hope, and from hope we get strength, and with this straight we can pull yourself out of the dark and back into the light. Light gives us life, and life gives us love, and love gives us hope, and hope gives us light. We need them all to have them all. It's how we keep the world safe. It what lets us dance in the sky." he would then pull her blankets up to her chin, kiss her head one last time, and then he whispered, "sweet dreams," before turning out her light and leaving her room.

When ever Lacey is sad, or angry, or upset, or anxious, she would think back on her father singing. It calmed her down in seconds, without fail. When she was awake, thinking of her father singing that song made her nothing but happy. When she was asleep however, it made her sad. She would always wake up crying. So when her father finished the song in her dream, and the lights went out Lacey was confused as to why she didn't wake up crying. Her dream continued, but in real life that was all she could remember, as she fell asleep only to wake to the house on fire, her father dead, and her mother covered in blood.

She was still in the dark, but she could hear voices. At first she thought the voices were her mother and father, but the longer she listened, the more she knew that wasn't true. She heard two male voices, one was familiar, but the other was not, and she also heard an unfamiliar female voice. She tried to walk towards them, but she couldn't seem to move, she couldn't even pick up her feet, it was like they were glued to the ground.

She tried to call out to the voices, but when she spoke no sound came out. She reached up to feel her throat, but she couldn't feel her hands. When she looked down she couldn't see her hands either. She wasn't sure if they were even there any more. She couldn't see any part of her body, and she was scared to admit that the feeling in her body was starting to go away as well. She hoped that she was just waking up. She closed her eyes, and tried to focus on the small tingle she felt in her fingers and toes.

When she opened her eyes, she thought she was going to she Jordan again, maybe even be in the alley once more. But she was wrong. She was dead wrong.


	20. Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY: ASH

Ash hated surprises. For their sixth birthday, her parents planned a surprise party for her and her brother, and Ash wouldn't have any of it. She flipped when they all shouted, and nearly broke something, then she couldn't enjoy the rest of the party because she was still reeling from shock, and on edge afraid it was going to happen again. Needless to say, her family never through a surprise party ever again.

Ash hated the moment surround by fish, and waiting before a figure emerged from the light. She also hated waiting, but that was mostly because waiting usually led to some sort of surprise. And if Ash wasn't immediately surprised by who came out of the light, she would be later.

Once the figure finally emerged from the light, Ash still couldn't see who it was. The light was so bright that Ash could barely see anything, let alone the figure that emerged.

"Hello, Ash." the voice said. Ash knew that who ever was talking was standing right in front of her, but all she could really make out was the silhouette of long curly hair. "It has been awhile since I saw you looking this way."

"What do you mean 'this way'?" Ash, though ready for this hell dream to be over with, was nervous to get an answer. What is this voice was someone from the future? Ash really wanted to be done with prophecies and secret missions and this stupid secret life. She just wanted to have a normal life, finish her transition, and then move back Ireland. "I thought you were me… how do I change?"

"Well, we don't stay the same forever. Perhaps, I'm a little early. I don't want to change your mind. I remember we went back in front a full transition for a while." the owner of the voice walked forward, enough to shadow the light behind her, and Ash was finally able to see her.

She wanted to cry when she saw her. Ash had never wanted to get her hopes up when it came to her transition, she didn't want to picture what she would look like after, because she didn't want to be let down. But of course she was only human, and had imagined what she could look like, what she was supposed to look like. When she saw the person that was supposedly her future, it was everything she had imagined. But that is for Ash to tell, and at this point she wasn't ready…

After a happy, excited, tearful, and confusing talk, Ash knew she needed to find her brother. Talk to him, and hopefully everything her future self said would come true. There were so pretty scary bumps ahead, but she had to have hope apparently that was the key.

When Ash walked away from her future self, and toward the surface of her ocean dream, the last words future her said to her echoed in her mind. "You will lose someone, I can't tell you who, or how, because if you try to change it, that could make things so much worse. Someone needs to die, and you need to let that happen."

What worried Ash most, was that it was going to be her brother, but then she remembered her last vision. Lacey was tied, bloody, and beaten, but more importantly she was told to kill someone. Ash had every intention about telling Lacey and Lenny about this vision of the future, but now….. She wasn't sure. What if this was what she needed to let happen.

All Ash really knew for certain, was that she had to find Lenny. Her future self told her that she needed to get to the surface, and then find the green door. Easier said than done, on so many levels. She had no idea how far up the surface was, and she didn't have a clue on where to start looking for the green door.

Ash felt like she had been swimming for HOURS. Even though she still felt no water, she felt her muscles tire out. It was only till she thought she couldn't keep moving that she broke the surface. It was only when she was above the water, that she actually began to feel wet now that she remembered how being dry felt. Seconds after breathing in real air, Ash felt herself getting pushed out of the water. Within moments, Ash was standing on the water. Or at least what she thought was water. But that again, nothing is ever what it seems in dreams.

Whatever she was swimming in turned solid under her feet. She was surrounded entirely by darkness, and she couldn't seem to adjust her eyes to the darkness. She held her hand in front of her face, well at least she thought she was holding her hand in front of her face, she couldn't see it to say for certain.

"Find the green door," she repeated the instructions her future self gave her. "Find the green door. Even if I can find a door how can I know if it is green without any light?" she was merely complaining into the void, but it seemed as though the void responded to her. For the second she said the word light, the world lite up around her.

She appeared to be surrounded by nothing. As far as she could see, there was nothing. The ceiling, or sky, or whatever was above her bled into the walls, or ground, or what ever was surrounding her. It looked like she was in one of those blank white spaces used in commercials. She was glad that she could see, but not so glad that there was nothing to see.

She was tired from swimming, and didn't enjoy the notion that she was going to have to go on a long search for some door, but she saw no other option. So she started walking. She had no clue f what direction to go, so she simply picked the direction she was facing, and she started walking.

She walked and she walked, for who knows how long. Time doesn't work naturally in the Astral Plane. She kept walking despite the fact that none of her surroundings had changed, and despite the fact that she had no idea which way she was going. She couldn't hear anything except for her breathing and her heartbeat. She kept walking, no matter how tired she was. Even though her eyelids were heavy, and dropping, and even though she was having trouble keeping a straight line she kept walking.

She stumbled out of fatigue, and fell to her knees, but she got up and kept going. She felt something hot and sticky on her hands and knees after walking a bit longer. She looked down at her hands, and though her vision was blurry, she could still see scrapes and blood on her hands. Glancing down farther, she could see that her jeans had rips in the knees, and she could see blood staining the denim. Suddenly, she was hit with a wave a dizziness and nausea. She staggered, stumbled, and crashed onto the ground.

Her chest felt heavy, and each breath hurt more than the last. She flopped on to her back, and tried to slow down her erratic heartbeat. But it was no use. She couldn't lift her hand let alone a finger. Her vision blurred and darkened. She wasn't sure if it was her eyes playing tricks on her mind, but the moment before her eyes shut, she could have swore she saw someone standing over her.

Ash slept, like really slept, for the first time she could remember. It wasn't just a dreamless sleep, the kind where you close your eyes for one moment and then open them the next and hours had passed. No, this was normal sleep. The type of sleep regular people had. The type of sleep those that aren't connected to magic or prophecies or stuck in thousand year old family rivalries have on a daily basis.

She had brightly colored dreams. Dreams of nonsense, and yet full of happiness, laughter and joy. It was every lighthearted moment she had ever dreamed of having. She dreamed of dancing on the treetops of a neon colored forest. She dreamed of painting the sunset on real clouds, and flying above mountains on the back of a Pegasus. It was clique, dumb, stupid and silly but in all of the right ways. She had never had a dream like this in her life. So when she woke up….. She wished she didn't have too. It just reminded her of everything she didn't have. Yet. Everything she didn't have yet. She made sure to remind herself of that. She couldn't lose hope, not when, for the first time in long time, she could see the end of the tunnel. And thankfully, she saw a little green door too.


	21. Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: LENNY

Having afternoon tea with the original Merlin, was not a dream Lenny thought he had, but once he was actually doing it, he felt like it was the best day of his life. Well, for about two seconds. He quickly realised that the original Merlin of legend was far from the hero sorcerer that the myths had built him up to be. Lenny always knew that the legends got discombobulated after being reheard and reinterpreted for centuries, but usually the reincarnated Merlin had very similar traits and personalities. They were after all almost the same person.

But the two raven haired "Merlins" that he was seated with, couldn't have been more different. Em seemed shy, but curious and she seemed to be bubbling with excitement under the surface of a cool exterior. This was just as Lenny had always imagined a Merlin would be, calm and collected but full of wonder.

Emrys on the other hand, he was the opposite. He was smiley and happy, but he had no joy in his eyes. He looked resigned, like nothing magical was going on in his head. He seemed done. Just done. Like there was nothing left for him to do, and he was okay with that. Lenny didn't get that vibe from Em. sure she seemed resigned in her own way, but she had this glimmer, something inside her that just wanted to do it all.

Lenny had heard Lacey list of millions of questions she would want to ask the first Merlin, but sitting at that table, and looking in that man's face, Lenny was so happy that Lacey wasn't there. She would have been so disappointed.

But that's not why this moment was a nightmare. Anyone untrained in the ways of the Astral Plane would have easily missed the appearance of the green convergence. Typically in the form of a small door, the convergence appeared for a brief moment and deposited the soul into their landscape. This new soul was Lenny's worst nightmare, not for who it was, but for how they showed up.

Lenny had done everything he could to keep Ash safe after their parents died. He may have only been older by a few minutes, but he still felt like he had to be the head of their broken little family. Seeing his twin fall from the sky, bruised and bloody, he couldn't focus on anything other than the fact that he wanted to help Ash, and hurt who ever or what ever did this to him… her.

"Dear lord, what happened to you child!" Emrys reacted to Ash, as if he had planned the time that … she would fall from the sky, but both 'Merlins' seemed shocked by Ash's state.

"Oh, my head." Ash put her head in her hands and laid it on the table. "Holy crap, I hope whoever you all are decent people, cause I might be dying."

Lenny instinctively reached out and latched on to Ash. "Hey, you're going to be fine. I'll make sure of it."

"Hey brother." Ash lifted his head…..her head and looked right passed where Lenny was. "I hope that's you cause I can't see right now."

"What happened?" Lenny's voice was shaky as he asked. He could feel his fingers shaking, and as much as he didn't want to, he let go of Ash, so that she wouldn't know.

"I failed." Ash almost laughed when she said it. Lenny knew how seriously Ash took that stupid, dangerous job, and failing it was like the worst case scenario. So when she laughed, Lenny couldn't even register it at first.

"I failed, and then I didn't, and now…" Lenny had known Ash for longer than he had ever known everyone. He could detect every sad sigh, every confused huff, every hopeful chuckle, and every little nuance in the way she spoke. It was like the afternoon after they found their parents last letter.

"Are you okay?" the inquiry was sudden, and from Em, which surprised Lenny, but not as much as what happened next.

When Em posed her question she had reached out to touch Ash on the arm, and once she made contact a small blue-green glimmer went from her fingertips and reverberated throughout Ash's body. The strangest thing was that as quickly as it appeared, it vanished even faster. Ash bolted upright, blinked rapidly, then took two or three deep gulping breaths before laughing hysterically.

"What did you just do?" Ash managed to choke out between laughs.

Em was too busy staring at her own hands in confusion to register that someone was talking to her. She flipped her hands over, and, it appeared to Lenny, as though she was analyzing every millimeter of her hands, like this was the first time she had seen her hands.

A silence followed Ash's question, and was nothing but awkward. Lenny was unsure of how to break the silence, but he knew that if it wasn't broken soon, he would have gone insane. Thankfully, Merlin came to the rescue. The first merlin that is.

"Magic." he whispered. Had it not been so quiet, Lenny doubted they would have heard him, but in the silence merlin's voice was almost deafening. "You're ready."

In less than a second, Merlin evaporated. He vanished right before their eyes; Lenny hadn't even had the chance to blink before the chair where the original Merlin had once sat was empty.

"Tell me one of y'all just saw that." Em rushed out. Her eyes were so wide, Lenny half wondered if they might fall out. "Was he talking to me?" her eyes scanned back and forth between Lenny and Ash, before settling on Ash and only then did she relax. Lenny wasn't sure why, but he watching Em look at Ash, he felt his chest tighten and his jaw clench.

"I think so." Ash's words were light, kind, and seemingly easy; with this gently smile that Lenny had never seen on his twin's face before. Ash and Em held eye contact longer than Lenny was comfortable with, then they both started to shyly giggle.

Lenny wasn't sure why he was so uncomfortable, but he need whatever strange moment his twin was having to be over before he over thought his motivation for this frustration. Lenny cleared this throat, more aggressively than he intended, and stood up from his chair. He had intended to look around the room, but once he stood up the room dissolved around them into nothing.

Lenny was looking around their new blank landscape, looking for any Astral Plane landmarks he could use to transport them out, when he heard a shout followed by a loud thud and an explosion of laughter. He turned around to see Ash and Em on the ground laughing their heads off.

"What is going on?" Em managed to choke out between laughs. "Magic, Ancient prophecies….. Since when?" her laughter died down as she continued, "I'm still at least 60% sure that this is a dream, but honestly I kind of hope it's not because God this is cliche."

"What do you mean?" Ash asked, before standing up and offering Em a hand.

"Oh come on." she said as she accepted the help up. "A prophecy for some chosen one to go on some quest to save the world. Can you say every myth slash young adult novel ever!" she said before laughing again.

Lenny knew that what she was saying was true, but still this was the life he was living, the life his family chose. He couldn't help but feel like she was making fun of his reality; he was trying his best to hide how offended he was, but he was shocked when he heard Ash's reaction.

Ash laughed and said, "yeah, I guess you're right. But I promise you, this is not a dream." then Ash smiled, but in a way that Lenny had never seen before. Their hands lingered together for longer than Lenny was comfortable. He figured they didn't realise they were just staring into each other's eyes holding hands, because once Em realised, her face paled and she pulled away her hand and her gaze.

Lenny should have been surprised with how quickly Ash was able to brush off Em's denial of their reality, because if Lenny was being honest he thought Ash was the one that took their work the most seriously. Once Lenny saw the Ash and Em interact he realised why Ash was being way for proper and far less sarcastic than usual.

"Who was that person that was talking to us by the way?" asked Ash, after finally looking at Lenny. Lenny wondered if this was how Ash felt when he gave Lacey most of his attention, because he hated how jealous he was feeling.

"That," responded Lenny after a louder huff than he intended, " was the original Merlin. That was Emrys."

"WHAT?" There was the loud, passionate Ash that Lenny was used to. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"There wasn't a lot of time." this time Em was the one to respond. Lenny hadn't known her long, but he had measured her up to be more shy than how she was acting with Ash. What did those two get up to on that train? "If it makes you feel any better, he was kind of weird."

"I wouldn't say weird," Lenny responded. He felt the need to defend his background to this girl, "a little standoffish maybe, but he is like hundreds of years old."

"Yeah, you would say that," chuckled out Ash. His twin knew him too well. Lenny could with Ash's face that Ash knew he was being defensive. Luckily enough, Em seemed to not notice, or at least not care, as she was already walking away from them, towards the nothingness that Astral Plane had dropped them in.

"Where are we?" she asked, turning back around to face the twins. Seeing her away from Ash, Lenny could imagine a world where he thought she was attractive, but still he didn't like how close she was getting to his twin.

"The Astral Plane," Ash answered and walked toward Em, "It's like 'the magic dimension' for lack of a better description. It exists outside of time and space, and we typically use it for transportation purpose."

"Great. Cool." Em responded. Lenny did know her well enough to tell for certain, but he had a theory that she was being sarcastic. "How do we get out of here?"

"Well, we need to um…" Ash started to respond, before looking hopefully at Lenny. "I actually don't know how we get out of here."

"Well," Lenny sighed, after it was clear that they were both looking at him to lead them, "lucky for you two, I know how to get out of here."

Lenny walked passed Ash and Em, to have his entire vision taken up by the Astral Plane. He had heard stories about how staring into the nothingness of the Astral Plane has drove some insane, but Lenny had never felt that way. He always felt safe. While the vastness scared most, Lenny felt comforted, like the endless possibility was giving him a warm hug.

His eyes scanned the blank white space for any sort of color. Each color means something different depending on the type of magic, it's a strange sort of system that has been forgotten in time. Lenny started to make up his own meanings of the colors to help him navigate. Apparently he is one of the first ones to be able to see multiple colors. Battalion records state that typically people either see purple or green in the Astral Plane, but Lenny has always been able to see both green and purple, plus blue and red and pink and orange and yellow. Lenny would never admit to anyone, but his favorite part of the Astral Plane

But when he looked out into the blank white landscape before him, he saw nothing. No colors, no glimmers, no movement, no changes, nothing. He couldn't remember a time when he had been in the Astral Plane and not seen something out there. Of course it took him three dumbfounded seconds to remember, that this wasn't his landscape that they entered into.

"I saw you in a hallway full of tapestries," he said turning to Em, "I watched you fall, that's how we ended up in the original Merlin's home."

"You were there?" She seemed equally shocked and confused. "I thought that was a dream."

"Wait," Ash chimed in, "What happened now?'

"When we were brought to the hospital after the train," explained Em, "We both passed out a couple times, the last time I remember passing out, I found myself walking in a hallway. I talked to my dead Grandmother. Fell in a hole, the douche from the train was there. That Merlin guy found me, and then you two showed up. And well…. You were there for the rest of it."

"None of this is a dream." Lenny's voice was sharp, edging on harsh. He wasn't trying to be mean, but something bothered him about this girl that he just couldn't place. "We are in a pocket of the Astral Plane that has spawned from your mind, so unfortunately you are going to have to get us out."

"Okay, so two things," She responded quickly, "One cool the sarcasm dude, I just met you, it is literally impossible for you to hate me so soon, give it a second. And two," she had started to close the gap between herself and Lenny, "how the fuck I am supposed to that?"

Lenny was slightly shocked that the supposedly shy girl he had just met was being so forward, but he was also starting to realize why she bothered him so much. Lenny was about to defend himself to her and then just throw in some back hand sarcasm in his explanation, but before he had the chance to Ash stepped in between the two of them.

"Okay, we've all had a very busy day," Ash started, sounding like a tired kindergarten teacher, "Why don't we all back up a bit, and cool off."

"Oh," Em whispered, as her gazed darted back and forth from Lenny to Ash and back again. "Okay, I get it. Not what you think."

A cold tingle went down Lenny's spine. It was like Em could read his mind. Did that mean she knew he was uncomfortable with how flirty she was being with his twin?

"What?" questioned Ash, clearly not picking up on any subtext as usual.

"Nothing," Em smiled, "We're good, right?" she was looking at Lenny like she wanted him to agree. Though he was partly relieved, he couldn't shake his skepticism for this girl. "Right, okay. What do I do?"

Remembering the true task at hand, Lenny wasn't sure how to go about explain how to manipulate the Astral Plane to a complete novice. Just because he was trained didn't mean he knew how to teach.

"Okay, yeah…. Um," he started, except he had no idea where he was going with that sentence. "Look around. Do you see anything?"

Em did a fast scan around, "nope."

"Okay, really look." his voice was getting shrill. He was frustrated at the fact that he didn't know what to say, and that he couldn't just fix the problem. He always knew what to do, and he hated being wrong about that. "Does anything look different? Do you see any doors, windows, cracks, colors?"

He emphasized the word 'colors', he knew that some people's minds created colors that weren't there, when they knew that was what they were looking for. Like they tried to force what they wanted to see onto the landscape, almost like a mirage. Typically those were the people that got lost.

"Um…" Em started. She looked around again, slower this time. Her brow scrunched and she squinted her eyes. "I-I-I don't know. I don't think I do?"

"It can really be anything," Ash chimed in. unlike Lenny, Ash had more patients and could be far more nurturing. "You can't force it. Just keep your eyes peeled for anything different. Why don't we move, walk around a bit?"

During that last part, Ash was looking at Lenny, like asking Lenny if it was okay that they all start walking. Lenny didn't think he was in charge or anything, but then he realized Ash knew how frustrated he was not being in control and was responding to that. Ash wasn't asking for permission, but trying to make Lenny see the bigger picture.

"That's a good idea." Lenny's voice was more hoarse now. He felt kind of guilty, making their situation about him, he knew it wasn't his fault that they were stuck there, but he also should of known it was his job to fix everything. "Let's walk."

They started walking in one direction. It was just a waiting game at this point. Lenny had no idea how long it would take, but he just needed to wait.


End file.
